Simple Machines Community Forum

Link to the mod (https://custom.simplemachines.org/index.php?mod=4158)





* * * WARNING * * *

BotBanish is designed to modify your root and SMF .htaccess file. Upon installation, BotBanish will automatically create a backup of the existing .htaccess, SSI.php and index.php files as well as the Source and Themes folders and the setting table for recovery. As a best practice, it is recommended to initiate the process with a clean .htaccess file and then carefully reintegrate your custom entries following the installation.

The individual tasked with overseeing BotBanish for SMF must possess a robust understanding of PHP, FTP, and essential .htaccess commands. With the introduction of BotBanish version 5.0.00, featuring an interface exclusively accessible to administrators, the maintenance of BotBanish table entries, which are instrumental in governing the functionality of the system, will be significantly facilitated.

* * * * * * * * * *

Introducing the BotBanish Firewall Client: A Robust, Cutting-Edge Solution for Superior Network Protection:

BotBanishClient is a sophisticated software solution designed to safeguard your digital infrastructure. It diligently monitors bot and user activity, effectively identifying and mitigating malicious attempts to compromise your system. This entails thwarting brute force attacks, preventing the creation of illegitimate user accounts, and detecting vulnerabilities that could be exploited. Furthermore, BotBanishClient provides a robust defense against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, curtails unauthorized data extraction, and prevents bandwidth exploitation, ensuring comprehensive protection for your website from a multitude of cyber threats.

How BotBanish Works:

BotBanish continuously monitors every attempt to access the system, identifying specific URL phrases indicative of attempts to exploit vulnerabilities. Upon detecting such activity, BotBanish swiftly responds by updating the .htaccess file to block the offending IP address, preventing further attacks from that source.

Recognizing that IP addresses can be dynamic, this proactive measure may inadvertently block legitimate users. To address this, it is recommended to establish a clear process for users to contact the system administrator and request an unblock should they be affected by a shifted IP previously associated with a malicious entity. System administrators can then promptly remove the IP address from the BotBanish blacklist. For lasting protection, legitimate IP addresses should be added to the BotBanish whitelist, ensuring uninterrupted access. To unblock an IP, administrators simply need to remove the entry from the BotBanish blacklist.

Uses:

BotBanish seamlessly integrates providing automatic detection and termination of bots identified as malicious or counterfeit users. BotBanish efficiently logs such incidents for administrative review. By continuously monitoring and restricting access to unauthorized entities, BotBanish enhances system security without burdening resources, a proactive measure allowing your website to focus on performance rather than defense against repetitive bot incursions.

For optimal functionality, please ensure that the following line is removed from your .htaccess file as it may disrupt the processing of user agents:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^(.+)$

Limitations:

This software is exclusively engineered for the PHP, MySQL, and Apache environments. It is optimized for PHP 8.1.x, Apache 2.4.x, and MySQL 5.7.x, ensuring peak performance and stability. To maintain compatibility, the minimum required versions are PHP 7.4.x, Apache 2.2.x, and MySQL 5.6.x.

Analytics:

BotBanish meticulously gathers data on visitor interactions, tracking page views and file downloads from your website. Access these valuable insights by choosing 'Analytics' from the BotBanish dashboard. For optimal analytical performance, we recommend utilizing SEO-friendly URLs.

Installation Instructions:

BotBanish is seamlessly integrated through the Package Manager included with SMF software.

Administrator-exclusive settings are nestled within the BotBanish->Settings main menu, ensuring that only those with administrative privileges can access and modify them.

By default, BotBanish communicates through the SMF error log file. Administrators have the option to switch notification delivery to email by altering the relevant parameter in the Settings. The installation of this package introduces modifications to the default theme templates "Packages.template", "index.template", and "Register.template" that may not translate correctly to other themes. Manual application of these changes is necessary for themes other than the default.

Disregarding these changes on alternative themes will result in the inoperability of login and registration page BOT detection for those themes.

Installation errors can occur if pre-existing modifications from other MODs conflict with the code BotBanish is programmed to modify. Should you face such issues, we request you inform us of the conflicting MODs to facilitate an updated release of BotBanish. Assistance would be enhanced by providing screenshots of your current MODs in the Package Manager. For this purpose, please visit our support forum at https://randemsystems.com/support/ and navigate to the BotBanish section to post your information.

Languages:

BotBanish is presently equipped to offer support in these languages:

English
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Spanish
Swedish

Before installing the new version, it is imperative to uninstall the previous version. Rest assured, no functionality will be compromised, provided you opt not to remove data during the uninstall process.


To install new version you MUST uninstall old version first (complete with all data). If you are re-installing version 5.0, no functionality will be lost if you DO NOT select to delete data on uninstall.


/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// BotBanish Website: https://botbanish.com (http://botbanish.com/)
// BotBanish Support: https://randemsystems.com/support (https://randemsystems.com/support)
// Release History: https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-release-history/ (https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-release-history/)
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Nice. I can't believe there could be mod like this with such features.

This MOD was designed on a clean 2.0.14 SMF forum. If anyone finds a conflict with any other installed MOD's, Please report it so that the install can be made to accommodate the use of these MOD's. This MOD is a great defense against spammers also. If you have any issues with this MOD, please contact us. There is no interface for this MOD intentionally because with the MOD's power; basically only administrators who understand it's power should use it without assistance.

@fanciboy4, have you had time to try it yet?

It seems quite promising or we will see if we put it to the test to see how it behaves ... thank you for sharing it I also leave the translations to Spanish Latin:

$txt['BotBanish_Database_Error'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: %s';
$txt['BotBanish_Message'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_ip'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: Intento de ataque de registro de fuerza bruta detenido - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_ip'] = 'Un BOT/USUARIO está atacando el sistema. Ha terminado' . "\n\n" . 'Dirección IP: %s' . "\n" . 'Agente de usuario: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_bot'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: Known Bad Bot Resource Usage Attempt Stopped - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_bot'] = 'Un BOT/USUARIO ha terminado de acceder al sistema' . "\n\n" . 'Dirección IP: %s' . "\n" . 'Agente de usuario: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_res'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: Intento de uso de recursos detenido - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_res'] = 'Un BOT/USUARIO ha terminado de acceder al sistema' . "\n\n" . 'Dirección IP: %s' . "\n" . 'Agente de usuario: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_verify'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: El archivo .htaccess puede estar incorrectamente formateado o faltan datos - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_verify'] = 'Se encontró una entrada de denegación de Dirección IP en la tabla IP Y en el archivo .htaccess.' . "\n" . 'Todavía se le permite el acceso al sistema. No deberíamos estar viendo esta IP' . "\n\n" . 'Dirección IP: %s' . "\n" . 'Agente de usuario: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_verify_missing'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: El archivo .htaccess puede estar incorrectamente formateado o dañado - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_verify_missing'] = 'Se encontró una entrada de denegar Dirección IP en la tabla IP pero NO en el archivo .htacces' . "\n\n" . 'Dirección IP: %s' . "\n" . 'Agente de usuario: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_verify_bot'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: El archivo .htaccess puede estar incorrectamente formateado o dañado - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_verify_bot'] = 'No se encontró una entrada SetEnvIfNoCase en el archivo .htaccess y al User-Agent aún se le permite la entrada al sistema' . "\n\n" . 'Dirección IP: %s' . "\n" . 'Agente de usuario: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_email'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: Nombre de usuario / Bloqueo de correo electrónico - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_email'] = 'Se ha encontrado una combinación de Nombre de usuario / Correo electrónico no autorizada en nuestra base de datos - Usuario cancelado' . "\n\n" . 'Dirección IP: %s' . "\n" . 'Agente de usuario: %s';
$txt['BotBanish_not_array'] = 'La variable de matriz está definida pero NO es una matriz<br />';
$txt['BotBanish_no_value'] = 'La variable de matriz está definida pero no tiene ningún valor asignado<br />';
$txt['BotBanish_not_defined'] = 'La variable de matriz no está definida<br />';
$txt['BotBanish_register'] = 'Register';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_server'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: Mensaje del cliente desterrador de bots sobre %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_server'] = '%s';

and

$txt['BotBanish_Database_Error'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: %s';
$txt['BotBanish_Message'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_ip'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: Intento de ataque de registro de fuerza bruta detenido - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_ip'] = 'Un BOT/USUARIO está atacando el sistema. Ha terminado' . "\n\n" . 'Dirección IP: %s' . "\n" . 'Agente de usuario: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_bot'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: Known Bad Bot Resource Usage Attempt Stopped - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_bot'] = 'Un BOT/USUARIO ha terminado de acceder al sistema' . "\n\n" . 'Dirección IP: %s' . "\n" . 'Agente de usuario: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_res'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: Intento de uso de recursos detenido - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_res'] = 'Un BOT/USUARIO ha terminado de acceder al sistema' . "\n\n" . 'Dirección IP: %s' . "\n" . 'Agente de usuario: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_verify'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: El archivo .htaccess puede estar incorrectamente formateado o faltan datos - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_verify'] = 'Se encontró una entrada de denegación de Dirección IP en la tabla IP Y en el archivo .htaccess.' . "\n" . 'Todavía se le permite el acceso al sistema. No deberíamos estar viendo esta IP' . "\n\n" . 'Dirección IP: %s' . "\n" . 'Agente de usuario: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_verify_missing'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: El archivo .htaccess puede estar incorrectamente formateado o dañado - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_verify_missing'] = 'Se encontró una entrada de denegar Dirección IP en la tabla IP pero NO en el archivo .htacces' . "\n\n" . 'Dirección IP: %s' . "\n" . 'Agente de usuario: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_verify_bot'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: El archivo .htaccess puede estar incorrectamente formateado o dañado - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_verify_bot'] = 'No se encontró una entrada SetEnvIfNoCase en el archivo .htaccess y al User-Agent aún se le permite la entrada al sistema' . "\n\n" . 'Dirección IP: %s' . "\n" . 'Agente de usuario: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_email'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: Nombre de usuario / Bloqueo de correo electrónico - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_email'] = 'Se ha encontrado una combinación de Nombre de usuario / Correo electrónico no autorizada en nuestra base de datos - Usuario cancelado' . "\n\n" . 'Dirección IP: %s' . "\n" . 'Agente de usuario: %s';
$txt['BotBanish_not_array'] = 'La variable de matriz est&aacute; definida pero NO es una matriz<br />';
$txt['BotBanish_no_value'] = 'La variable de matriz est&aacute; definida pero no tiene ningún valor asignado<br />';
$txt['BotBanish_not_defined'] = 'La variable de matriz no est&aacute; definida<br />';
$txt['BotBanish_register'] = 'Register';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_server'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: Mensaje del cliente desterrador de bots sobre %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_server'] = '%s';


Regards!

Thanks Rock Lee

I will implement the language conversion in the next update. Let me know if you have any issues with the MOD.

If there are any more language conversions, please submit them and they will also be included in the next release.  8)

Aloha Rock Lee,

I have a few more entries for conversion if you have the time...

Mahalo!


$txt['BotBanish_Client_Install_Complete'] = 'BotBanish Client Database Install Complete. </br>Firewall Records Imported (.htaccess): %s';
$txt['BotBanish_Server_Install_Complete'] = 'BotBanish Server Database Install Complete. </br>Firewall Records Imported (.htaccess): %s';
$txt['BotBanish_Client_Uninstall_Complete'] = 'BotBanish Client Database Uninstall / Rename Complete.';
$txt['BotBanish_Server_Uninstall_Complete'] = 'BotBanish Server Database Uninstall / Rename Complete.';
$txt['BotBanish_Client_Installed'] = 'BotBanish Already Installed - Terminating - Must be Uninstalled First';
$txt['BotBanish_Write_Error'] = ' cannot be opened for writing';
$txt['BotBanish_Not_Found'] = ' not found<br />';
$txt['BotBanish_Connection_Failed'] = 'Connection failed: ';
$txt['BotBanish_Error_Text'] = '* * * ERROR * * *';
$txt['BotBanish_Server_Label'] = 'Server: ';
$txt['BotBanish_Database_Label'] = 'Database: ';
$txt['BotBanish_Version_Label'] = 'Version: ';
$txt['BotBanish_No_Info'] = 'No information found in the file ';


@Randem Of course I leave the translations I had some doubts about some technical words, that is why in "not found" if I translate it literally it is not very used :P equally anything warn me

$txt['BotBanish_Client_Install_Complete'] = 'Instalaci&oacute;n de la base de datos del cliente del desterrador de bots completada. </br>Registros de cortafuegos importados (.htaccess): %s';
$txt['BotBanish_Server_Install_Complete'] = 'Instalaci&oacute;n de la base de datos del servidor del desterrador de bots completada. </br>Registros de cortafuegos importados (.htaccess): %s';
$txt['BotBanish_Client_Uninstall_Complete'] = 'Desinstalaci&oacute;n de la base de datos del cliente desterrador de bots / Renombrado completo.';
$txt['BotBanish_Server_Uninstall_Complete'] = 'Desinstalaci&oacute;n de la base de datos del servidor desterrador de bots / Renombrado completo.';
$txt['BotBanish_Client_Installed'] = 'Desterrador de bots ya está instalado - Terminaci&oacute;n - Debe ser desinstalado primero';
$txt['BotBanish_Write_Error'] = ' no se puede abrir para escribir';
$txt['BotBanish_Not_Found'] = ' not found<br />';
$txt['BotBanish_Connection_Failed'] = 'La conexi&oacute;n fall&oacute;: ';
$txt['BotBanish_Error_Text'] = '* * * ERROR * * *';
$txt['BotBanish_Server_Label'] = 'Servidor: ';
$txt['BotBanish_Database_Label'] = 'Base de datos: ';
$txt['BotBanish_Version_Label'] = 'Versi&oacute;n: ';
$txt['BotBanish_No_Info'] = 'No se encontr&oacute; informaci&oacute;n en el archivo';

$txt['BotBanish_Client_Install_Complete'] = 'Instalación de la base de datos del cliente del desterrador de bots completada. </br>Registros de cortafuegos importados (.htaccess): %s';
$txt['BotBanish_Server_Install_Complete'] = 'Instalación de la base de datos del servidor del desterrador de bots completada. </br>Registros de cortafuegos importados (.htaccess): %s';
$txt['BotBanish_Client_Uninstall_Complete'] = 'Desinstalación de la base de datos del cliente desterrador de bots / Renombrado completo.';
$txt['BotBanish_Server_Uninstall_Complete'] = 'Desinstalación de la base de datos del servidor desterrador de bots / Renombrado completo.';
$txt['BotBanish_Client_Installed'] = 'Desterrador de bots ya está instalado - Terminación - Debe ser desinstalado primero';
$txt['BotBanish_Write_Error'] = ' no se puede abrir para escribir';
$txt['BotBanish_Not_Found'] = ' not found<br />';
$txt['BotBanish_Connection_Failed'] = 'La conexión falló: ';
$txt['BotBanish_Error_Text'] = '* * * ERROR * * *';
$txt['BotBanish_Server_Label'] = 'Servidor: ';
$txt['BotBanish_Database_Label'] = 'Base de datos: ';
$txt['BotBanish_Version_Label'] = 'Versión: ';
$txt['BotBanish_No_Info'] = 'No se encontró información en el archivo';


Regards!

@Rock Lee,

Thanks Again!!!

I seemed to have missed one...  :o


$txt['BotBanish_Database_Type_Error'] = 'Only mySQL Database Supported At This Moment';


Perhaps "Not Found" can be "Not Located Here" or "Not Present"?

I thought the same thing when I translated it, but from my experience the "not found" is usually used in English, but literally "Extraviado" although it can be used... I leave you those two lines then

$txt['BotBanish_Not_Found'] = ' No encontrado<br />';
$txt['BotBanish_Database_Type_Error'] = 'Solo la base de datos MySQL es compatible en este momento';

I leave it here because I can not edit my message from above

Regards!

New version just released. in MOD's..

Aloha!

If anyone should like to help with converting the language files to another language just let us know an we can include the language in an upcoming release.

Mahalo!

Here is the English language file (BotBanishLanguage.english.php) that would need to be converted.

Thanks in advance.


<?php
$txt['BotBanish_Database_Error'] = 'BotBanishClient: %s';
$txt['BotBanish_Message'] = 'BotBanishClient: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_ip'] = 'BotBanishClient: A Brute Force Registration Attack Attempt Stopped - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_ip'] = 'A BOT/USER is attacking the system. It has been terminated' . "\n\n" . 'IP Address: %s' . "\n" . 'User Agent: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_bot'] = 'BotBanishClient: Known Bad Bot Resource Usage Attempt Stopped - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_bot'] = 'A BOT/USER has been terminated from accessing the system' . "\n\n" . 'IP Address: %s' . "\n" . 'User Agent: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_res'] = 'BotBanishClient: Resource Usage Attempt Stopped - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_res'] = 'A BOT/USER has been terminated from accessing the system' . "\n\n" . 'IP Address: %s' . "\n" . 'User Agent: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_verify'] = 'BotBanishClient: .htacces File May Be Improperly Formatted, Data is Missing or WRONG FILE USED - PLEASE CORRECT!!! - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_verify'] = 'A deny IP Address entry was found in the IP table AND in the .htacces file.' . "\n" . 'It is still being allowed access to the system. We should not be seeing this IP - ACCOUNT WILL BE TERMINATED IF THIS CONTINUES!!!' . "\n\n" . 'IP Address: %s' . "\n" . 'User Agent: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_verify_missing'] = 'BotBanishClient: .htacces File May Be Improperly Formatted, Corrupted or WRONG file used!!! - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_verify_missing'] = 'A deny IP Address entry was found in the IP table but NOT in the .htacces file' . "\n\n" . 'IP Address: %s' . "\n" . 'User Agent: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_verify_bot'] = 'BotBanishClient: .htacces File May Be Improperly Formatted or Corrupted - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_verify_bot'] = 'A SetEnvIfNoCase entry was not found in the .htacces file and the User-Agent is still being allowed entry to the system' . "\n\n" . 'IP Address: %s' . "\n" . 'User Agent: %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_email'] = 'BotBanishClient: Username / Email Lockout - %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_email'] = 'A rogue Username / Email combination has been found in our database - User Terminated' . "\n\n" . 'IP Address: %s' . "\n" . 'User Agent: %s';
$txt['BotBanish_not_array'] = 'Array variable is defined but is NOT an array<br />';
$txt['BotBanish_no_value'] = 'Array variable is defined but has no value assigned<br />';
$txt['BotBanish_not_defined'] = 'Array variable is not defined<br />';
$txt['BotBanish_register'] = 'Register';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_server'] = 'BotBanishClient: Message from BotBanishServer about %s';
$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_body_server'] = '%s';
$txt['BotBanish_Database_Type_Error'] = 'Only mySQL Database Supported At This Moment';
$txt['BotBanish_Client_Install_Complete'] = 'BotBanish Client Database Install Complete. </br>Firewall Records Imported (.htaccess): %s';
$txt['BotBanish_Server_Install_Complete'] = 'BotBanish Server Database Install Complete. </br>Firewall Records Imported (.htaccess): %s';
$txt['BotBanish_Client_Uninstall_Complete'] = 'BotBanish Client Database Uninstall / Rename Complete.';
$txt['BotBanish_Server_Uninstall_Complete'] = 'BotBanish Server Database Uninstall / Rename Complete.';
$txt['BotBanish_Client_Installed'] = 'BotBanish Already Installed - Terminating - Must be Uninstalled First';
$txt['BotBanish_Write_Error'] = ' cannot be opened for writing';
$txt['BotBanish_Not_Found'] = ' not found<br />';
$txt['BotBanish_Connection_Failed'] = 'Connection failed: ';
$txt['BotBanish_Error_Text'] = '* * * ERROR * * *';
$txt['BotBanish_Server_Label'] = 'Server: ';
$txt['BotBanish_Database_Label'] = 'Database: ';
$txt['BotBanish_Version_Label'] = 'Version: ';
$txt['BotBanish_No_Info'] = 'No information found in the file ';
?>


Rock Lee, I have another line to translate if you would...

Thanks in advance.


$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_unknown_bot'] = 'BotBanishClient: Unknown Bot Detected - %s';


nice mod.

As a fellow spam prevention mod author verrry interesting.  Though I am not sure about the "block what others do not know about".  Keep up the good work.

Rock Lee,

I have another few lines to translate if you would...

Thanks in advance.


$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_unknown_bot'] = 'BotBanishClient: Unknown Bot Detected - %s';
$txt['BotBanish_htaccess_rule'] = 'Account has been prematurely terminated. Probable violation of the .htaccess rule';



@butchs & vicram10,

Thanks.
The next release should be in a few days...

The whole English language file is attached in case someone else wants to convert it to include a language...

Hello,

After instalation the forum had crashed. From hosting somehow had managed to return my forum back but it seems that the mod is not completely removed.
Please can you help me to remove the mod?  :-\

Members cannot register now:
Fatal error: Call to undefined function BotBanishClient() in /home/flegacyc/public_html/Sources/Register.php on line 415
Thanks!

poctopus, I need some information from you to help.

What version of the MOD are you running? What version of SMF are you running? What domain name was BotBanish installed on?

Prior versions to the current version (2.2.x) were discontinued on January 1, 2018. Emails went out to current users to upgrade before then or the MOD would not work.

How did you remove the Mod? Could you define "Crashed", Error Messages etc... All our servers and clients are up and running.
How did the installation go? Any errors etc..? The uninstall will remove everything, it seems file were manually deleted.

There is a file named modification.xml that contains all the changes to any files and the line numbers in the files. Just remove the lines that were changed to remove the MOD.

You should have contacted the BotBanish Support site soon as it happened for a quick resolution. There is also more helpful information there.

I solved this with removing all the hoops with repair_settings.php file.

The forum just crashed and I cannot do anything about it. I do not remember the error message since my host provider found the issue and removed it just to access my forum and fix the issue.

My forum version is 2.0.15 and this happened before new year.

pocttopus,

BotBanish does not change any SMF settings, so if you repaired the issue with repair_settings.php that is a different issue. Did you move your site to a new location? What did your host provider find & repair?

All 7 of our websites are running BotBanish, so we would be the first to notice a site failure due to BotBanish. Answers to the other questions that were asked would also help to solve the issue.

I installed the BotBanish Firewall Client MOD on my SMF forum 2.0.15 and everything seemed to work well.  It started adding IP's to the .htaccess file.

But then out of the blue my website stopped working - Error 500 INTERNAL SERVER ERROR

I uninstalled BotBanish Firewall Client and deleted the .htaccess file and everything is working again.

Any idea what would cause this?

lethal-danger,

It could have been several things...

1 - ISP issues (timeouts).
2 - Internet Issues (timeouts).
3 - Your IP in the .htaccess file

Since you deleted your .htaccess file there is no way to tell if that was the cause. Your IP could inadvertently get put in the .htaccess file and that would definitely give you that error. That is the exact message a blocked bot would get. When BotBanish is installed, your server IP is placed into the override table so that it never gets blocked.

Your website was probably not down at all, you were just blocked. Did you change anything? Were you operating from a different IP? If you were operating from a different IP than the one used to install BotBanish you are subject to be blocked if suspicious behavior is determined to exist on that IP. If using a different IP, that IP should be added to the override table so that it never gets blocked also.

The .htaccess file would have been the key to knowing exactly what happened. We can possibly check to see on our end with a few answers from you.

What IP were you using?
What was the domain name of your site?
What version of BotBanish were you using?

Thanks for your time!

I was using version 2.2.03

I didn't delete the htaccess only renamed it and my IP's are not on it.

I was accessing www.hvactechgroup.com from my work PC and my iphone. Both have seperate IP's.

Would it be possible to see your .htaccess file (zipped)?
On which device was the system down on?
How did you uninstall BotBanish?

I see a number of lockouts on your domain. How many do you have?

There will be a folder in your SMF installation location named logs. Look in that folder for files, if they exist please zip and send them to me.

I got the ERROR 500 on both my work PC and iPhone, which both have different IP's on different networks.

I used the Package Manager in the SMF admin to uninstall BotBanish.

I'm not sure what you mean by lockouts.

The .htacess file was in the main folder and seemd to cause the error on my Geeklog site,

www.hvactechgroup.com

and my SMF forum,

www.hvactechgroup.com/hvacforum

The logs folder in my hvacforum folder is empty.

Thanks again!

Ok, if the log file is empty; BotBanish did not terminate prematurely. Your .htaccess file is formatted correctly but also fails on our system with a 505 error until we remove lines 1-10 then it works correctly. This would indicate that the issue is in the first 10 lines BEFORE the BotBanish Entries. You can try it on your side to verify. You have some CPanel entries that are causing the 505 errors.

Look in your server logs, the error should be better shown there. You should find an entry like this

[Thu Jan 25 14:07:58.134845 2018] [core:alert] [pid 13728:tid 1168] [client ::1:58972] C:/wamp/www/.htaccess: Error reading C:/wamp/www/.htaccess at line 4: Line too long

Line 4 should be your issue. BotBanish is working correctly and does not start until line 11.

I'm pretty sure after years up smf upgrades and installing/removing different security mods, something is not right.  Is there an easy way to import all the users/passwords and posts into a freshly installed forum?

??? :o
This is not something BotBanish does...

Greetings,
I using 2.1 b3


After install i get this:


Ministeerium
Today at 08:19 am
88.196.90.122 
c6bb525fbdd1da152a48bd5bb16a8ed1
Type of error: Undefined
8: Undefined index: BotBanish_register http://arutlusekeskus.arvutiministeerium.ee/index.php?action=admin;area=logs;sa=errorlog;desc
File: /www/apache/domains/www.arvutiministeerium.ee/htdocs/arutlusekeskus/Themes/default/Errors.template.php (body_above sub template - eval?)
Line: 187

Ministeerium
Today at 08:19 am
88.196.90.122 
c6bb525fbdd1da152a48bd5bb16a8ed1
Type of error: Undefined
8: Undefined index: BotBanish_register http://arutlusekeskus.arvutiministeerium.ee/index.php?action=admin;area=antispam
File: /www/apache/domains/www.arvutiministeerium.ee/htdocs/arutlusekeskus/Themes/default/languages/ManageSettings.english.php (body_above sub template - eval?)
Line: 187

Ministeerium
Today at 08:18 am
88.196.90.122 
c6bb525fbdd1da152a48bd5bb16a8ed1
Type of error: Undefined
8: Undefined index: BotBanish_register http://arutlusekeskus.arvutiministeerium.ee/index.php?action=admin;area=antispam;a5809e196f1=c6bb525fbdd1da152a48bd5bb16a8ed1
File: /www/apache/domains/www.arvutiministeerium.ee/htdocs/arutlusekeskus/Themes/default/languages/ManageSettings.english.php (body_above sub template - eval?)
Line: 187

Ministeerium
Today at 08:17 am
88.196.90.122 
c6bb525fbdd1da152a48bd5bb16a8ed1
Type of error: Undefined
8: Undefined index: BotBanish_register http://arutlusekeskus.arvutiministeerium.ee/index.php?action=admin;area=logs;sa=errorlog;desc
File: /www/apache/domains/www.arvutiministeerium.ee/htdocs/arutlusekeskus/Themes/default/Errors.template.php (body_above sub template - eval?)
Line: 187

Ministeerium
Today at 08:17 am
88.196.90.122 
c6bb525fbdd1da152a48bd5bb16a8ed1
Type of error: Undefined
8: Undefined index: BotBanish_register http://arutlusekeskus.arvutiministeerium.ee/index.php?action=admin
File: /www/apache/domains/www.arvutiministeerium.ee/htdocs/arutlusekeskus/Themes/default/languages/Who.english.php (body_above sub template - eval?)
Line: 187

Ministeerium
Today at 08:17 am
88.196.90.122 
c6bb525fbdd1da152a48bd5bb16a8ed1
Type of error: Undefined
8: Undefined index: BotBanish_register http://arutlusekeskus.arvutiministeerium.ee/index.php?action=admin
File: /www/apache/domains/www.arvutiministeerium.ee/htdocs/arutlusekeskus/Themes/default/languages/Who.english.php (body_above sub template - eval?)
Line: 187

Ministeerium
Today at 08:16 am
88.196.90.122 
c6bb525fbdd1da152a48bd5bb16a8ed1
Type of error: Undefined
8: Undefined index: BotBanish_register http://arutlusekeskus.arvutiministeerium.ee/index.php?action=admin;area=logs;sa=errorlog;desc
File: /www/apache/domains/www.arvutiministeerium.ee/htdocs/arutlusekeskus/Themes/default/Errors.template.php (body_above sub template - eval?)
Line: 187

Ministeerium
Today at 08:16 am
88.196.90.122 
c6bb525fbdd1da152a48bd5bb16a8ed1
Type of error: Undefined
8: Undefined index: BotBanish_register http://arutlusekeskus.arvutiministeerium.ee/index.php?action=admin;area=featuresettings;a5809e196f1=c6bb525fbdd1da152a48bd5bb16a8ed1
File: /www/apache/domains/www.arvutiministeerium.ee/htdocs/arutlusekeskus/Themes/default/languages/ManageSettings.english.php (body_above sub template - eval?)
Line: 187

Ministeerium
Today at 08:16 am
88.196.90.122 
c6bb525fbdd1da152a48bd5bb16a8ed1
Type of error: Undefined
8: Undefined index: BotBanish_Client_Install http://arutlusekeskus.arvutiministeerium.ee/index.php?action=admin;area=packages;sa=install2;package=1517645641.zip;pid=0
File: /www/apache/domains/www.arvutiministeerium.ee/htdocs/arutlusekeskus/Packages/temp/installBotBanishClient.php
Line: 316


Any ideas?

No other mods is installed.

Aloha Margus,

What version number of BotBanish are you using? Are you using the SMF version of BotBanish?

What does this mean...

A SetEnvIfNoCase entry was not found in the .htacces file and the User-Agent is still being allowed entry to the system

Quote from: fmmobley on February 08, 2018, 09:34:30 AM
What does this mean...

A SetEnvIfNoCase entry was not found in the .htacces file and the User-Agent is still being allowed entry to the system

Generally, it means that the .htaccess file that you have set is not the correct one needed and when BotBanish has blocked a User-Agent BotBanish should not be seeing it again and it has. It could mean that the entry was manually removed from the .htaccess, the incorrect .htacess file was indicated, the file has read only permissions.

You should be on the current version. What version of BotBanish are you using?
What is the domain?

Our support site is located at http://botbanish.com/support (http://botbanish.com/support)
There is much more information there.

Quote from: Randem on January 05, 2018, 02:21:10 AM
Rock Lee, I have another line to translate if you would...

Thanks in advance.

Code Select Expand


$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_unknown_bot'] = 'BotBanishClient: Bot desconocido detectado - %s';


Before anything apologizes until now, I was able to answer you (I have outstanding notes that little by little I will get some if some patience) for some problems I have but that better than ever sometimes says the saying :laugh:


$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_unknown_bot'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: Bot desconocido detectado - %s';


Quote from: Randem on January 14, 2018, 05:17:25 PM
Rock Lee,

I have another few lines to translate if you would...

Thanks in advance.

Code Select Expand


$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_unknown_bot'] = 'BotBanishClient: Unknown Bot Detected - %s';
$txt['BotBanish_htaccess_rule'] = 'Account has been prematurely terminated. Probable violation of the .htaccess rule';


Here I leave the 2nd line anything send me an MP or see if these days is already ON my page that sure will be around those sides 8)


$txt['BotBanishClient_mail_subject_unknown_bot'] = 'Cliente desterrador de bots: Bot desconocido detectado - %s';
$txt['BotBanish_htaccess_rule'] = 'La cuenta ha sido terminada prematuramente. Probable violación de la regla .htaccess';


I hope this all in order.


Regards!

IMPORTANT UPDATE: All users should update to the latest release of BotBanish to allow for moving forward. Older releases prior to 2.2 may cease to work properly (or not at all) with the new releases of BotBanish.

Update Release & Information: https://randemsystems.com/support/index.php#c18

Quote from: Randem on February 18, 2018, 05:34:23 PM
IMPORTANT UPDATE: All users should update to the latest release of BotBanish to allow for moving forward. Older releases prior to 2.2 may cease to work properly (or not at all) with the new releases of BotBanish.

Update Release & Information: https://randemsystems.com/support/index.php#c18

It's good to know ... the question is does an update apply or is there a previous package for the latest version?


Regards!

Quote from: Rock Lee on February 19, 2018, 09:31:26 PM

It's good to know ... the question is does an update apply or is there a previous package for the latest version?


Regards!

There is no per say "Update" there is only the latest release. It is an uninstall of the old version and a install of the latest version. You will lose nothing on the uninstall and re-install, all previous information is retained. Although more functionality is gained with the new install.

Quote from: Randem on February 19, 2018, 10:14:08 PM
There is no per say "Update" there is only the latest release. It is an uninstall of the old version and a install of the latest version. You will lose nothing on the uninstall and re-install, all previous information is retained. Although more functionality is gained with the new install.

Ahh great then and tomorrow I will try to update it on the test page I have to see how it behaves, it is already late today and I had to fight with my page enough ... it's time to sleep a bit :P


Regards!

I did have members stating that they got a White screen when accessing the forum. They would just refresh and get in.   The only thing I did notice is that in the error log was "Sources/BotBanish_DB_Subs_SMF.php Line: 57" was the common error database error in the log.  I have uninstalled with package manager and all seems good.   I will check my backup copy and see it that line is there.   

There is no permanent changes to my forum and no critical errors, only a need to refresh the users screen to get in like normal. 

showngo,

Without the version number of the package you have installed, complete error message or the source code area, it would be just a guess. When reporting error it is ALWAYS a good idea to include the version of software you are using to help you get answers. Different version may have different line numbers... The more information that you give the more information there is to give to you. That would be the only way to resolve if you need to update your version or there is a conflict with another installed package.

More info  here (https://randemsystems.com/support/index.php#c18)

Im on my phone now, at work. Ill get that for you in the morning.  Im running the current version of SMF and downloaded the botbanish from here two days ago from the Mods section.

With checking my server it seems i was getting bogged down at there level with ip checks. I have about 800 members on at a time but im not sure.

As in my OP, there was no major issue other than a delay accessing the forum.

Look in the folder where SMF is loaded. You should find a folder named logs. See if there are files in there. If so I would like to have a look at them. All that line 57 does is to do an insert into a table in your local database with ignore and that should not cause any issues. The only other issue could be DNS issues when originally connecting to BotBanish to check proper credential that causes a delay. This would be a one time check for logged on users.

What is your domain name so that I can check on the server.

BTW: IP checks are not done on users that are logged in. They are only done on guests... (not logged in) meaning someone who is attempting to log in.

Ill get to the file.   The domain is weaponsguild.com

Yes, your domain is not very active with hits on our server and your domain hasn't hit our server since 2/20/2018 so the only delay that I  could be a DNS check but not a server hit on IP checks. But if you are not hitting our server that would negate the DNS check on our server unless you are getting a timeout.

PS: BotBanishClient does not seem to be installed on your system... Can you verify?

Quote from: Randem on February 23, 2018, 03:10:41 PM
Yes, your domain is not very active with hits on our server and your domain hasn't hit our server since 2/20/2018 so the only delay that I  could be a DNS check but not a server hit on IP checks. But if you are not hitting our server that would negate the DNS check on our server unless you are getting a timeout.

PS: BotBanishClient does not seem to be installed on your system... Can you verify?

No it is not, Like I posted on the 20th.  I removed mine after the error log had 127 lines after 10 hrs, I not reporting an "error" I was commenting on the poster before that , saying, after removing the package from package manager there are no errors or "lasting effects" they stated that after they removed it there forum was still encountering problems.   

Oh Ok good to know. If you want to re-install and need some insight, just let me know.

I could possibly help with the logon delay. What other MODs do you have installed?
Could I possibly see your .htaccess file?
Also the exact complete error from the log file for line 57?

I still would like to track it down...

Yesterday I installed BotBanish Firewall Client 2.2.05 on SMF 2.0.15
at https://www.smokey-services.eu/forums/index.php

Today I received the following 3 message...

QuoteA BOT/USER has been terminated from accessing the system

IP Address: 42.236.49.26
User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/50.0.2661.102 Safari/537.36; 360Spider

--------

A SetEnvIfNoCase entry was not found in the .htacces file and the User-Agent is still being allowed entry to the system

IP Address: 42.236.102.157
User Agent: 360Spider

----------

A BOT/USER is attacking the system. It has been terminated

IP Address: 211.108.3.235
User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/59.0.3071.104 Safari/537.36

----------

What is 360Spider?

Since installing BotBanish I've also noticed that I'm not seeing the following:
BingBot
Google (Bot2)
Yahoo!
Is this by design or is it just a coincidence ..... obviously I don't want to stop the search spiders from visiting.

Quote from: Starbuck501 on February 25, 2018, 08:18:55 AM
What is 360Spider?

http://www.botreports.com/user-agent/360spider.shtml

Thanks for the reply Shambles.

Nice link.

Starbuck501,

Most messages and explanations are found here (https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-general-questions-report-bugs-problems-etc/botbanish-error-message-explanations/) on the Official BotBanish Support site.

BingBot
Google (Bot2)
Yahoo!

Some spiders are not really good ones bandwidth wise and are  fake spiders spoofing to be search engines. The real spiders by name are in the good spiders detection mechanism and are not being blocked but some fake spiders are spoofing them and we stop them. You can override the BotBanish Spider Detection Mechanism (https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-general-questions-report-bugs-problems-etc/overriding-botbanish-detections/) if you feel this is in error to what you really want.

A BOT/USER is attacking the system. It has been terminated - BotBanish is not allowing this IP to access your system.

PS: You get a message every time that Botbanish locks out and IP or User_Agent, so if you have not gotten a message about on of the mentioned Bots; BotBanish did not block them.

QuoteSome spiders are not really good ones bandwidth wise and are  fake spiders spoofing to be search engines. The real spiders by name are in the good spiders detection mechanism and are not being blocked but some fake spiders are spoofing them and we stop them.

So what you're saying is.... the real Google/Bing/Yahoo bots are not prevented from searching the site?
only the ones pretending to be legit are blocked.

That is correct. If you want to be sure, take a look at the NEW Google Search Console for your site by logging into your Google account. You should see that Google is still searching your site.

Another way is to look at your .htaccess file and see that Google, Bing nor Yahoo are being blocked in the file.

Ok, thank you for that confirmation.

Quotetake a look at the NEW Google Search Console for your site by logging into your Google account. You should see that Google is still searching your site.

Seems there's been nothing since installing BotBanish.

QuoteAnother way is to look at your .htaccess file and see that Google, Bing nor Yahoo are being blocked in the file.

Nothing in the .htaccess file.

Looking through the 'Logs' folder though, I see entries like this:

66.249.66.6 - - [28/Feb/2018:00:10:07 +0100] "GET /forums/index.php?topic=10864.0 HTTP/1.1" 403 631 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html)"
66.249.66.6 - - [28/Feb/2018:00:10:13 +0100] "GET /forums/index.php?board=190.%1$d HTTP/1.1" 403 631 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html)"
40.77.167.18 - - [28/Feb/2018:00:10:15 +0100] "GET /forums/index.php?board=199.240 HTTP/1.1" 403 631 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; bingbot/2.0; +http://www.bing.com/bingbot.htm)"
66.249.66.6 - - [28/Feb/2018:00:10:19 +0100] "GET /forums/index.php?board=207.%1$d HTTP/1.1" 403 631 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html)"
66.249.66.6 - - [28/Feb/2018:00:10:48 +0100] "GET /forums/index.php?topic=309543.0 HTTP/1.1" 403 631 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html)"
66.249.66.6 - - [28/Feb/2018:00:10:59 +0100] "GET /forums/index.php?topic=219207.0 HTTP/1.1" 403 631 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html)"
40.77.167.18 - - [28/Feb/2018:00:11:37 +0100] "GET /forums/index.php?topic=324944.0 HTTP/1.1" 403 631 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; bingbot/2.0; +http://www.bing.com/bingbot.htm)"

Any idea as to the problem?
Like I said earlier, the search engines visited regularly before installing BotBanish.

I need to see your .htaccess to see if there is a bad_bot entry in there with www.
If so remove that and all should be good.

This is the complete .htaccess file.............

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
RewriteRule ^ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

# PRETTYURLS MOD BEGINS
# Pretty URLs mod
# http://code.google.com/p/prettyurls/
# .htaccess file generated automatically on: February 20, 2018, 23:13

RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /forums

# Rules for: boards
RewriteRule ^([-_!~*'()$a-zA-Z0-9]+)/?$ ./index.php?pretty;board=$1.0 [L,QSA]
RewriteRule ^([-_!~*'()$a-zA-Z0-9]+)/([0-9]*)/?$ ./index.php?pretty;board=$1.$2 [L,QSA]

# Rules for: topics
RewriteRule ^([-_!~*'()$a-zA-Z0-9]+)/([-_!~*'()$a-zA-Z0-9]+)/?$ ./index.php?pretty;board=$1;topic=$2.0 [L,QSA]
RewriteRule ^([-_!~*'()$a-zA-Z0-9]+)/([-_!~*'()$a-zA-Z0-9]+)/([0-9]*|msg[0-9]*|new)/?$ ./index.php?pretty;board=$1;topic=$2.$3 [L,QSA]

# PRETTYURLS MOD ENDS
# POST AND PM INLINE ATTACHMENTS BEGINS
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule attachment_(\d+)\.(\d+)_(\d+)\.pdf index.php?action=dlattach;topic=$1.$2;attach=$3
# POST AND PM INLINE ATTACHMENTS ENDS

That is the incorrect .htaccess file. Look for the one in the root folder location, that one is from the SMF folder location.

The entry would look like this:

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "www." bad_bot

Just remove it. Always make a backup copy first.

Sorry about that, am still learning as I go along.

Yes I do see that entry:

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "www." bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Yandex" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "ccbot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "cliqzbot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "seznambot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "bubing" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "360Spider" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "go-http-client" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "mj12bot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "webcrawler" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "gluten free crawler" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "megaindex" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "zgrab" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "; obot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "semrushbot" bad_bot

------------

So it's just that entry to remove?

Yes

All sorted now.
Googlebot is now showing.
Thank you for your time, It really is appreciated.

You are very welcome! Glad to help.  8)

Back again I'm afraid.

One of my Site Admins is having problems logging in.
Only started recently.
Last 2 days she has only been getting a white page when signing in.

I pulled these from the access log.... why are there 2 different codes:
301 616
200 3899

pool-71-162-193-227.phlapa.fios.verizon.net - - [03/Mar/2018:00:00:05 +0100] "GET /forums/index.php HTTP/1.1" 200 3899 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/58.0.3029.110 Safari/537.36 Edge/16.16299"
pool-71-162-193-227.phlapa.fios.verizon.net - - [03/Mar/2018:00:01:20 +0100] "GET /forums/index.php HTTP/1.1" 200 3899 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/58.0.3029.110 Safari/537.36 Edge/16.16299"
pool-71-162-193-227.phlapa.fios.verizon.net - - [03/Mar/2018:18:14:08 +0100] "GET /forums/index.php HTTP/1.1" 301 616 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/58.0.3029.110 Safari/537.36 Edge/16.16299"
pool-71-162-193-227.phlapa.fios.verizon.net - - [03/Mar/2018:18:14:09 +0100] "GET /forums/index.php HTTP/1.1" 200 3899 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/58.0.3029.110 Safari/537.36 Edge/16.16299"
pool-71-162-193-227.phlapa.fios.verizon.net - - [03/Mar/2018:17:41:37 +0100] "GET /forums/index.php HTTP/1.1" 301 616 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/58.0.3029.110 Safari/537.36 Edge/16.16299"
pool-71-162-193-227.phlapa.fios.verizon.net - - [03/Mar/2018:17:41:38 +0100] "GET /forums/index.php HTTP/1.1" 200 3899 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/58.0.3029.110 Safari/537.36 Edge/16.16299"

-------
I can't see the IP listed in the .htaccess file.

Took a chance and added the IP to the BotBanishClient_ip_dnb table.
It seems to have cured the problem.
Site Admin is now back online.

Aloha,
Ok, good glad you used the override.
I was replying when I got your new post.
I don't see anything in the information that you posted that would suggest any blocking.
BotBanish is not blocking that IP so it must be somewhere in the user-agent blocking that you have.
I will research more...

Those are Apache codes. You can see a list of them here - http://www.bignosebird.com/apache/a5.shtml
Which would seem to signify that another part of your .htaccess files has taken over.

This can also help you decipher the error log - https://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/logs.html

If BotBanish does something with an IP or User-Agent you should get a 403 Error in the log.

I just attempted to access your site and got a white screen. My IP is definitely not being blocked by Botbanish. Could you send me your .htaccess file from your root folder. There must be something in it that is blocking requests.

Luckily I downloaded a copy earlier, so I have it to hand.

# -FrontPage-

IndexIgnore .htaccess */.??* *~ *

# */HEADER* */README* */_vti*

SetEnv TZ Europe/Amsterdam

Options All -Indexes

Options +FollowSymlinks

AuthName smokey-services.eu
AuthUserFile /var/www/vhosts/smokey-services.eu/httpdocs/_vti_pvt/service.pwd
AuthGroupFile /var/www/vhosts/smokey-services.eu/httpdocs/_vti_pvt/service.grp

Redirect 301 /index.html http://www.smokey-services.eu/forums/
Redirect 301 /index.php http://www.smokey-services.eu/forums/
RewriteRule ^forum/(.*) http://www.smokey-services.eu/ [R=301,L]

#
#
#

RewriteEngine on

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^HTTrack" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Bandit" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^BatchFTP" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Bigfoot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Black.Hole" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Black Hole" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Titan" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebStripper" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^NetMechanic" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^CherryPicker" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^EmailCollector" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^EmailSiphon" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebBandit" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^EmailWolf" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^ExtractorPro" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^CopyRightCheck" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Crescent" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Wget" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^SiteSnagger" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^ProWebWalker" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^CheeseBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Teleport" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^TeleportPro" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^MIIxpc" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Telesoft" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Website Quester" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebZip" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^moget/2.1" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebZip/4.0" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebSauger" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebCopier" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^NetAnts" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Mister PiX" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebAuto" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^TheNomad" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WWW-Collector-E" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^RMA" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^libWeb/clsHTTP" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^asterias" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^httplib" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^turingos" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^spanner" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^InfoNaviRobot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Harvest/1.5" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Bullseye/1.0" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; BullsEye; Windows 95)" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Crescent Internet ToolPak HTTP OLE Control v.1.0" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^CherryPickerSE/1.0" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^CherryPicker /1.0" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebBandit/3.50" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^NICErsPRO" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Microsoft URL Control - 5.01.4511" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^DittoSpyder" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Foobot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebmasterWorldForumBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^SpankBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^BotALot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^lwp-trivial/1.34" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^lwp-trivial" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Wget/1.6" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^BunnySlippers" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Microsoft URL Control - 6.00.8169" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^URLy Warning" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Wget/1.5.3" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^LinkWalker" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^cosmos" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^moget" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^hloader" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^humanlinks" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^LinkextractorPro" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Offline Explorer" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Mata Hari" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^LexiBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Web Image Collector" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^The Intraformant" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^True_Robot/1.0" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^True_Robot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^BlowFish/1.0" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^JennyBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^MIIxpc/4.2" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^BuiltBotTough" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^ProPowerBot/2.14" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^BackDoorBot/1.0" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^toCrawl/UrlDispatcher" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebEnhancer" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^TightTwatBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^suzuran" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^VCI WebViewer VCI WebViewer Win32" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^VCI" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Szukacz/1.4" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^QueryN Metasearch" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Openfind data gathere" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Openfind" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Xenu's Link Sleuth 1.1c" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Xenu's" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Zeus" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^RepoMonkey Bait & Tackle/v1.01" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^RepoMonkey" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Zeus 32297 Webster Pro V2.9 Win32" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Webster Pro" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^EroCrawler" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^LinkScan/8.1a Unix" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Keyword Density/0.9" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Kenjin Spider" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Cegbfeieh" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Baiduspider" bad_bot

<Limit GET POST>
order allow,deny
allow from all
Deny from env=bad_bot
</Limit>

<Limit GET HEAD POST>
order allow,deny
deny from reverse.layeredtech.com
deny from macfixer.net
deny from haoliuliang.net
deny from nihaorr1.com
deny from aspder.com
deny from nmidahena.com
deny from keyweb.com
deny from keyweb.de
deny from keymachine.de
deny from theplanet.com
deny from 414151.com
# begin Baidu
deny from 119.63.192.
deny from 119.63.193.
deny from 119.63.194.
deny from 119.63.195.
deny from 119.63.196.
deny from 119.63.197.
deny from 119.63.198
deny from 119.63.199.
deny from 180.76.5.
deny from 220.181.
deny from 123.125.6.
# end Baidu
deny from 94.228.34
deny from 46.229.164
deny from 71.48.0.0 - 71.55.255.255
deny from 71.48.0.0/13
deny from 94.228.34
deny from 201.218.198.164
deny from 194.8.74.37
deny from 41.210.252.11
deny from 194.90.190.
deny from 83.228.50.0 - 83.228.51.255
deny from 85.255.112.0 - 85.255.127.255
deny from 70.84.0.0/16
deny from 70.85.0.0/16
deny from 70.86.0.0/16
deny from 70.87.0.0/16
deny from 208.43.0.0/16
deny from 87.118.0.0/16
deny from 58.56.0.0/16
deny from 58.57.0.0/16
deny from 58.58.0.0/16
deny from 58.59.0.0/16
deny from 125.125.0.0/16
deny from 92.48.84.0/24
deny from 188.92.72.0/24
deny from 188.92.75.0/24
deny from 188.92.76.0/24
deny from 188.92.77.0/24
deny from 91.201.64.0/24
deny from 91.201.66.0/24
deny from 81.52.143.0/24
deny from 195.2.241.0/24
deny from 193.252.149.0/24
deny from 88.208.222.0/24
deny from 67.212.189.0/24
deny from 194.186.53.0/24
deny from 92.241.168.0/24
deny from 92.241.169.0/24
deny from 77.241.42.0/24
deny from 77.241.43.0/24
deny from 212.235.92.0/24
deny from 78.157.143.0/24
deny from 83.228.51.0/24
allow from all
</LIMIT>

<Limit PUT DELETE>
order deny,allow
deny from all
</Limit>

# Voorkom bekijken .htaccess of andere bestanden

<Files .htaccess>
order allow,deny
deny from all
</Files>

RewriteRule ^sitemap.xml$ /forums/index.php?action=sitemap;xml

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^.*$
RewriteRule ^.*%27.*$ http://127.0.0.1/ [redirect,last]
RewriteRule ^.*%25.*$ http://127.0.0.1/ [redirect,last]
RewriteRule ^.*rush=.*$ http://127.0.0.1/ [redirect,last]
RewriteRule ^.*echr.*$ http://127.0.0.1/ [redirect,last]
RewriteRule ^.*esystem.*$ http://127.0.0.1/ [redirect,last]
RewriteRule ^.*wget.*$ http://127.0.0.1/ [redirect,last]

# prevent perl user agent (most often used by santy)

RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^lwp.* [NC]
RewriteRule ^.*$ http://127.0.0.1/ [R,L]

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^.*$

# Drugs / Herbal

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (sleep-?deprivation) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (sleep-?disorders) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (insomnia) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (phentermine) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (phentemine) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (vicodin) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (hydrocodone) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (levitra) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (hgh-) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (-hgh) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (ultram-) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (-ultram) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (cialis) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (soma-) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (-soma) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (diazepam) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (gabapentin) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (celebrex) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (viagra) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (fioricet) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (ambien) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (valium) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (zoloft) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (finasteride) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (lamisil) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (meridia) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (allegra) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (diflucan) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (zovirax) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (valtrex) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (lipitor) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (proscar) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (acyclovir) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (sildenafil) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (tadalafil) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (xenical) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (melatonin) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (xanax) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (herbal) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (drugs) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (lortab) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (adipex) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (propecia) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (carisoprodol) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (tramadol) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F]

# Porn

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (porno) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (shemale) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (gangbang) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (-cock) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (-anal) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (-orgy) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (cock-) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (anal-) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (orgy-) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (singles-?christian) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (dating-?christian) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (cumeating) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (cream-?pies) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (cumsucking) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (cumswapping) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (cumfilled) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (cumdripping) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (krankenversicherung) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (cumpussy) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (suckingcum) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (drippingcum) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (pussycum) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (swappingcum) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (eatingcum) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (cum-) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (-cum) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (sperm) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (christian-?dating) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (jewish-?singles) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (sex-?meetings) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (swinging) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (swingers) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (personals) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (sleeping) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (libido) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (grannies) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (mature) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (enhancement) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (sexual) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (gay-?teen) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (teen-?chat) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (gay-?chat) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (adult-?finder) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (adult-?friend) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (friend-?finder) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (friend-?adult) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (finder-?adult) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (finder-?friend) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (discrete-?encounters) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (cheating-?wives) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (housewives) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (\-sex\.) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (xxx) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (snowballing) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F]

# Weight

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (fat-) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (-fat) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (diet) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (pills) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (weight) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (supplement) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F]

# Gambling

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (texas-?hold-?em) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (poker) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (casino) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (blackjack) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F]

# Loans / Finance

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (mortgage) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (refinancing) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (cash-?advance) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (cash-?money) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (pay-?day) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F]

# User Agents

RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (Program\ Shareware|Fetch\ API\ Request) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "Microsoft URL Control" [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (Microsoft\ URL\ Control) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F]

# Misc / Specific Sites

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (netwasgroup\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (nic4u\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (wear4u\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (foxmediasolutions\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (liveplanets\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (aeterna-tech\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (continentaltirebowl\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (chemsymphony\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (infolibria\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (globaleducationeurope\.net) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (soma\.125mb\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (mitglied\.lycos\.de) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (foxmediasolutions\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (jroundup\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (feathersandfurvanlines\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (conecrusher\.org) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (sbj-broadcasting\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (edthompson\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (codychesnutt\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (artsmallforsenate\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (axionfootwear\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (protzonbeer\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (candiria\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (bigsitecity\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (coresat\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (istarthere\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (amateurvoetbal\.net) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (alleghanyeda\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (xadulthosting\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (datashaping\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (zick\.biz) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (newprinceton\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (dvdsqueeze\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (xopy\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (webdevboard\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (devaddict\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (eaton-inc\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (whiteguysgroup\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (guestbookz\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (webdevsquare\.com) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (indfx\.net) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (snap\.to) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (2y\.net) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (astromagia\.info) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (jixx\.de) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (free-?sms) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F]

# people search engines

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^.*123people.de.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^.*findestars.de.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^.*myonid.de.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^.*peekyou.com.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^.*pipl.com.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^.*rapleaf.com.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^.*snitch.name.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^.*spock.com.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^.*tweepz.com.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^.*wink.com.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^.*yasni.de.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^.*yoname.com.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^.*yourtraces.com.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^.*zoominfo.com.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F]

# Block Hotlinken

# RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
# RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?smokey-services.eu/.*$ [NC]
# RewriteRule \.(gif|jpg|png)$ - [F]

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http(s)?://(www\.)?smokey-services.eu [NC]
RewriteRule \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|bmp|jpe|mng|ppm|psd|psp|svg|tif|wmp)$ - [NC,F,L]

RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "^omgilibot" [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]

RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Baiduspider [NC]
RewriteRule ^.* - [F,L]

RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} 94.228.34.*
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]

RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ADSARobot|ah-ha|almaden|aktuelles|Anarchie|amzn_assoc|ASPSeek|ASSORT|ATHENS|Atomz|attach|attache|autoemailspider|BackWeb|Bandit|BatchFTP|bdfetch|big.brother|BlackWidow|bmclient|Boston\ Project|BravoBrian\ SpiderEngine\ MarcoPolo|Bot\ mailto:[email protected]|Buddy|Bullseye|bumblebee|capture|CherryPicker|ChinaClaw|CICC|clipping|Collector|Copier|Crescent|Crescent\ Internet\ ToolPak|Custo|cyberalert|DA$|Deweb|diagem|Digger|Digimarc|DIIbot|DISCo|DISCo\ Pump|DISCoFinder|Download\ Demon|Download\ Wonder|Downloader|Drip|DSurf15a|DTS.Agent|EasyDL|eCatch|ecollector|efp@gmx\.net|Email\ Extractor|EirGrabber|email|EmailCollector|EmailSiphon|EmailWolf|Express\ WebPictures|ExtractorPro|EyeNetIE|FavOrg|fastlwspider|Favorites\ Sweeper|Fetch|FEZhead|FileHound|FlashGet\ WebWasher|FlickBot|fluffy|FrontPage|GalaxyBot|Generic|Getleft|GetRight|GetSmart|GetWeb!|GetWebPage|gigabaz|Girafabot|Go\!Zilla|Go!Zilla|Go-Ahead-Got-It|GornKer|gotit|Grabber|GrabNet|Grafula|Green\ Research|grub-client|Harvest|hhjhj@yahoo|hloader|HMView|HomePageSearch|http\ generic|HTTrack|httpdown|httrack|ia_archiver|IBM_Planetwide|Image\ Stripper|Image\ Sucker|imagefetch|IncyWincy|Indy*Library|Indy\ Library|informant|Ingelin|InterGET|Internet\ Ninja|InternetLinkagent|Internet\ Ninja|InternetSeer\.com|Iria|Irvine|JBH*agent|JetCar|JOC|JOC\ Web\ Spider|JustView|KWebGet|Lachesis|larbin|LeechFTP|LexiBot|lftp|libwww|likse|Link|Link*Sleuth|LINKS\ ARoMATIZED|LinkWalker|LWP|lwp-trivial|Mag-Net|Magnet|Mac\ Finder|Mag-Net|Mass\ Downloader|MCspider|Memo|Microsoft.URL|MIDown\ tool|Mirror|Missigua\ Locator|Mister\ PiX|MMMtoCrawl\/UrlDispatcherLLL|^Mozilla$|Mozilla.*Indy|Mozilla.*NEWT|Mozilla*MSIECrawler|MS\ FrontPage*|MSFrontPage|MSIECrawler|MSProxy|multithreaddb|nationaldirectory|Navroad|NearSite|NetAnts|NetCarta|NetMechanic|netprospector|NetResearchServer|NetSpider|Net\ Vampire|NetZIP|NetZip\ Downloader|NetZippy|NEWT|NICErsPRO|Ninja|NPBot|Octopus|Offline\ Explorer|Offline\ Navigator|OpaL|Openfind|OpenTextSiteCrawler|OrangeBot|PageGrabber|Papa\ Foto|PackRat|pavuk|pcBrowser|PersonaPilot|Ping|PingALink|Pockey|Proxy|psbot|PSurf|puf|Pump|PushSite|QRVA|RealDownload|Reaper|Recorder|ReGet|replacer|RepoMonkey|Robozilla|Rover|RPT-HTTPClient|Rsync|Scooter|SearchExpress|searchhippo|searchterms\.it|Second\ Street\ Research|Seeker|Shai|Siphon|sitecheck|sitecheck.internetseer.com|SiteSnagger|SlySearch|SmartDownload|snagger|Snake|SpaceBison|Spegla|SpiderBot|sproose|SqWorm|Stripper|Sucker|SuperBot|SuperHTTP|Surfbot|SurfWalker|Szukacz|tAkeOut|tarspider|Teleport\ Pro|Templeton|TrueRobot|TV33_Mercator|UIowaCrawler|UtilMind|URLSpiderPro|URL_Spider_Pro|Vacuum|vagabondo|vayala|visibilitygap|VoidEYE|vspider|Web\ Downloader|w3mir|Web\ Data\ Extractor|Web\ Image\ Collector|Web\ Sucker|Wweb|WebAuto|WebBandit|web\.by\.mail|Webclipping|webcollage|webcollector|WebCopier|webcraft@bea|webdevil|webdownloader|Webdup|WebEMailExtrac|WebFetch|WebGo\ IS|WebHook|Webinator|WebLeacher|WEBMASTERS|WebMiner|WebMirror|webmole|WebReaper|WebSauger|Website|Website\ eXtractor|Website\ Quester|WebSnake|Webster|WebStripper|websucker|webvac|webwalk|webweasel|WebWhacker|WebZIP|Wget|Whacker|whizbang|WhosTalking|Widow|WISEbot|WWWOFFLE|x-Tractor|^Xaldon\ WebSpider|WUMPUS|Xenu|XGET|Zeus.*Webster|Zeus [NC]
RewriteRule ^.* - [F,L]

# BrowserMatchNoCase baiduspider bad_bot
# Order Deny,Allow
# Deny from env=bad_bot

# Deny bandwidth, Spam, data and login attacks (BotBanish - smokey-services.eu)

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Yandex" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "ccbot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "cliqzbot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "seznambot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "bubing" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "360Spider" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "go-http-client" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "mj12bot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "webcrawler" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "gluten free crawler" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "megaindex" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "zgrab" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "; obot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "semrushbot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Curl" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "linkdexbot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "barkrowler" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Grabber" bad_bot
<Limit GET POST HEAD>
Order Allow,Deny
Allow from all
Deny from env=bad_bot
</Limit>

# Deny bandwidth, Spam, data and login attacks (BotBanish - smokey-services.eu)

<Limit GET POST>
order allow,deny
allow from all
</Limit>
deny from 23.83.90.242
deny from 196.247.162.158
deny from 23.83.90.1
deny from 37.187.57.221
deny from 107.174.108.131
deny from 142.4.215.116
deny from 149.202.93.182
deny from 172.245.70.46
deny from 54.174.31.46
deny from 185.158.119.156
deny from 42.114.39.127
deny from 139.59.240.21
deny from 104.160.244.150
deny from 46.161.9.63
deny from 192.243.53.51
deny from 137.74.132.80
deny from 107.160.226.86
deny from 23.231.54.30
deny from 206.253.224.75
deny from 101.255.17.34
deny from 172.245.136.202
deny from 137.226.113.26
deny from 104.160.244.93
deny from 45.61.153.254
deny from 133.130.49.166
deny from 107.174.108.138
deny from 78.46.174.55
deny from 107.174.226.167
deny from 107.174.108.133
deny from 104.131.147.112
deny from 45.61.154.171
deny from 176.10.99.200
deny from 196.196.92.244
deny from 51.15.209.128
deny from 141.105.64.97
deny from 181.215.94.245
deny from 192.36.27.6
deny from 136.243.9.23
deny from 42.113.152.35
deny from 46.4.87.205
deny from 179.208.73.74
deny from 46.161.9.61
deny from 37.113.14.71
deny from 178.63.97.34
deny from 34.239.246.197
deny from 211.108.3.235
deny from 42.236.49.26
deny from 42.236.49.26
deny from 42.236.102.157
deny from 42.236.49.199
deny from 35.153.17.161
deny from 80.211.254.102
deny from 43.252.159.195
deny from 23.94.171.181
deny from 191.101.73.184
deny from 77.75.79.109
deny from 46.119.115.251
deny from 82.166.195.72
deny from 107.160.226.183
deny from 62.210.37.82
deny from 124.41.240.63
deny from 91.200.12.25
deny from 162.247.72.202
deny from 18.197.12.51
deny from 185.220.101.18
deny from 77.247.181.163
deny from 54.167.29.208
deny from 178.154.171.42
deny from 178.20.55.16
deny from 23.94.171.166
deny from 144.76.23.212

OK, I don't see anything there. I looked at the response from your site and all I am getting are headers so that must mean that there is an unrecoverable error on your side. Please attach the BotBanish logs from your logs folder in the root

There's quite a few, not sure what you want but here's some.

I will look at those but I was looking for the ones in the location of your .htaccess file there is a folder titled logs I woul dlike to see the one from today. The logs would have the look of

BotBanish_Client_2.2.05_(SMF)_Error_xxxxxxx_2018-03-03.log

Ok, hopefully this is what you want....

Yes, it was! There was a server update yesterday and something fell thru. The message in that file allowed me to fix the issue.
You do not need to do anything. Thanks for your help!

QuoteThanks for your help!

I should be thanking you.
You have been a great help to me.

BotBanish Client 3.0.0 Beta is ready for use.
Features found in Botbanish 3.0.0 (https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-release-history/botbanish-pending-release/msg6384/#msg6384)
Other Info (https://randemsystems.com/support/index.php#c18)

Why Yandex that is Russian Google, this is considered as bad bot ?

Is it realist ?  Entire traffic of any forum to be send for analysis at one anonymous server, which if this goes down, all related forums will have issues.
I am sorry but I do not consider as wise thought the use of such server - client based mod.

SMF this is defenseless against bad bots, and also against tracking software which every company this running server-hosting-business it does sending today their own trackers, and such tremendous and  useless web traffic it does consume our bandwidth and server CPU resources, and slows down database speed.

Personally I do IP blocking (due server configuration) to all trackers send by server-hosting-business, and new members registration this is also supervised by me in person.
In past six years never had any security issues.
In simple English if you do not personally protect your property by you working at it and spending your own time, no one else will keep it secure for you. 
 

     

What is good for one is not good for all. You should have noticed that any individual can decide what is good for their site. If one wanted Yandex to hit their site then they could have it sit on their site all day long and BotBanish would not care. You should really read the documentation or ask questions before giving uninformed bad information. It takes no effort at all to bash but it does take a little reading to be well informed before giving an uninformed opinion and attempting to get others to follow your lead. If you truly want to help someone, give fact based information that can be verified. None of what you say is true and THAT CAN BE VERIFIED by anyone.

Quote from: Randem on April 02, 2018, 02:29:03 PM
If you truly want to help someone, give fact based information that can be verified.
None of what you say is true and THAT CAN BE VERIFIED by anyone.

I will agree on the part that at BotBanish website what it is missing this is a picture of your face and your name as web project developer.
Personally I do not deliver my faith to any one hiding behind a web page.
What I did suggest to this community of forum administrators, this is them to think twice before making a decision of using this mod.

Few messages above, Starbuck501 reported issues, which you solved by you correcting your own server configuration.
This is enough for me as truly verified evidence, which every one here he can also verify too.

QuoteI will agree on the part that at BotBanish website what it is missing this is a picture of your face and your name as web project developer.
Personally I do not deliver my faith to any one hiding behind a web page.

Anyone can put a pic up... it doesn't mean anything.
As a site owner myself, my pic isn't on my site and as with most of us we don't use our real names.
Hence.... Starbuck501.

I don't have any problem using BotBanish.
Every time BotBanish stops a known Bad Bot or a Brute Force registration attack attempt .... I get a notification.
In one month I had 106 notifications.
I do check all the IP address's to make sure... and have only had 2 so far that weren't on the bad Bot List or listed on SFS.
One of those was a bot that I wanted to allow.
Following the instructions on the BotBanish site, It was easy to alter the database and allow this bot.
Overall I think it's been a worthwhile program to install and has saved me some grief.

Quote from: Starbuck501
I don't have any problem using BotBanish.

Neither Google search has any problems either, they are simply forced to pay electric bills of more than 100 servers worldwide so all users of this service to not feel any slowdown.     

Received this notification today:

QuoteBotBanishClient: .htacces File May Be Improperly Formatted, Data is Missing or WRONG FILE USED - PLEASE CORRECT

A deny IP Address entry was found in the IP table AND in the .htacces file.
It is still being allowed access to the system. We should not be seeing this IP - ACCOUNT WILL BE TERMINATED IF THIS CONTINUES!!!

IP Address: 36.57.180.156
User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 8.1; WOW64; rv:32.1) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/32.1

Followed by this notification....

QuoteA BOT/USER is attacking the system. It has been terminated

IP Address: 36.57.180.156
User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/49.0.2623.112 Safari/537.36

Can you explain why the first notification came through.

Thanks.

The first notification has been discontinued in version 3.0. It was there for in earlier versions some users did not allow the .htaccess file to be modified causing the same bot / IP to continuously gain access to the system causing multiple detections using up resources. Sometimes on a system where the bot was basically using a brute force attack that message would get thru because the user's system did not block the IP fast enough and we would still get the IP attacking the system. Nothing to worry about the second message indicated that it was taken care of.

The first message is generally a indication that the user should check this condition on their side.

Thanks for the explanation.

BotBanish 3.0 has been released.
What's in Botbanish 3.0? - https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-release-history/botbanish-pending-release/ (https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-release-history/botbanish-pending-release/)

I have version 2.2.05 installed on SMF 2.0.15.
Will this need uninstalling before installing version 3 or can it be installed over the earlier version?

Yes, Any previous versions will need to be uninstalled before installing the new version.
You will not lose any protection on the uninstall that will not be replaced on the install.

Ok thanks.

Excellent support, I'll be using this on my 2.0.x forum.

BotBanish 3.1.00 has been Released. This is a MUST Update!!!
We have switched communications from HTTP to HTTPS and prior version may not work.
Uninstall old version and install new version.
Check our support site for more information.

Very good job I'm glad you can improve your work! That's why I leave you the improvements of the Latin Spanish language.

<file name="$languagedir/Modifications.spanish_latin.php" error="skip">
<operation>
<search position="end" />
<add><![CDATA[
// BotBanish Settings

$txt['BOTBANISH_ACTIVE'] = '<b>BotBanish activo</b>';
$txt['BOTBANISH_APIKEY'] = 'BotBanish APIKEY';
$txt['BOTBANISH_SEND_EMAIL_ALERTS'] = 'Enviar alertas por correo electr&oacute;nico si se marcan / escribir alertas en el registro de errores';
$txt['BOTBANISH_CHECK_UPDATES'] = 'Buscar actualizaciones autom&aacute;ticamente (solo en Instalador de Paquetes)';
$txt['BOTBANISH_RENAME_TABLES'] = 'Cambiar el nombre de las tablas instaladas en la desinstalación si se marc&oacute; / Eliminar tablas';
$txt['BOTBANISH_LANGUAGE_SELECT'] = 'Seleccione el idioma';
$txt['BOTBANISH_DOC_ERRORS'] = 'Controle los errores del documento 400 Series y bloquee los ataques de inyecci&oacute;n PHP / SQL';
// End of BotBanish Settings
]]></add>
</operation>
</file>

<file name="$languagedir/Modifications.spanish_latin-utf8.php" error="skip">
<operation>
<search position="end" />
<add><![CDATA[
// BotBanish Settings

$txt['BOTBANISH_ACTIVE'] = '<b>BotBanish activo</b>';
$txt['BOTBANISH_APIKEY'] = 'BotBanish APIKEY';
$txt['BOTBANISH_SEND_EMAIL_ALERTS'] = 'Enviar alertas por correo electrónico si se marcan / escribir alertas en el registro de errores';
$txt['BOTBANISH_CHECK_UPDATES'] = 'Buscar actualizaciones automáticamente (solo en Instalador de Paquetes)';
$txt['BOTBANISH_RENAME_TABLES'] = 'Cambiar el nombre de las tablas instaladas en la desinstalación si se marcó / Eliminar tablas';
$txt['BOTBANISH_LANGUAGE_SELECT'] = 'Seleccione el idioma';
$txt['BOTBANISH_DOC_ERRORS'] = 'Controle los errores del documento 400 Series y bloquee los ataques de inyección PHP / SQL';
// End of BotBanish Settings
]]></add>
</operation>
</file>

I think I do not miss translating anything, I try to do my best, but if I miss something, you tell me 8)


Regards!

Aloha Rock Lee,

Once again I am grateful for your assistance in the translations. I will update them in the next release.

Mahalo

I had botbanish on an SMF 2.0.15 forum. Just installed on Aug 3. Hadn't been to my forum in a few days so tried to visit today and got 403 error. I found my IP in the htaccess ban list.

Went to another machine (on different network) and uninstalled botbanish.  Then removed my IP from the htaccess file.
In the forum error logs, I see this for my IP:

QuoteBot / User Spoofing a known spider
BotBanish Client 3.1.00 (SMF)

I tried to get help on the botbanish web site/forum, but I'm also apparently banished there, too.

Any clue what this 'known spider' might be so I can rectify?

Thanks!

How does this determine what spiders are considered bad?

Aloha melanieh75,

I would need more information about your system. The domain name, IP address, the htaccess file, the complete error message from the error log etc... If you could zip that information and get it to me I can take a look.

BotBanish will not ban itself. I.E. the IP Address on which it is installed unless the IP was removed from the BotBanish IP table on the client side. That is an internal safety check BotBanish would not check information coming from your IP Address.

Aloha njtweb,

I won't tell you how BotBanish determines a bad Spider but anyone can determine to have any spider that they like visit their site by following a few rules as notated here https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-general-questions-report-bugs-problems-etc/overriding-botbanish-detections/ (https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-general-questions-report-bugs-problems-etc/overriding-botbanish-detections/)

If I install this mod, will I need to remove the stopforumspam mod? Also, will this mod interfere with the normal search engine spiders that are indexing the forum?

Thx

Aloha delta5,

No, you need not uninstall any other MODs before installing BotBanish. You will have to better define "Normal" Search Engine Spiders... What some consider normal others consider a nuisance. Either way you can control what is allowed/disallowed to hit your site https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-general-questions-report-bugs-problems-etc/overriding-botbanish-detections/

The main Google search engine spider is not affected

Hi guys,
I just installed your client on my forum at www.fedupwithliberals.com. It passed all the checks and installed without a problem. I enabled e-mail notices. Can you tell me what to expect or what I will see happen in general or in the logs? If you would like to monitor what happens, please let me know.

Delta5

aloha delta5,

You should get notices telling you information on what IP or BOT was recently block and why it was blocked so that you can take further actions on allowing this IP or bot (if you so choose). Your messages will look something like this:


BotBanishClient: Known Bad Bot Resource Usage Attempt Stopped - Honeypot Bot

A BOT/USER has been terminated from accessing the system

IP Address: 208.255.142.150
User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/66.0.3359.170 Safari/537.36 OPR/53.0.2907.99

BotBanish Client 3.2.00 (SMF)



BotBanishClient: A Brute Force Registration Attack Attempt Stopped

A BOT/USER is attacking the system. It has been terminated

IP Address: 94.41.112.7
User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.0; Win64; rv:35.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/35.0

BotBanish Client 3.2.00 (SMF)

Otherwise no one else will be aware that BotBanish is there guarding your system.

Ok I'm seeing the brut force attempt, resourse usage attempt, and something about spoofing a legit spider?

Yes, there are many ways an attack can be made on your system. A spoofing spider is A BOT that pretends to be a good spider (like Goggle) so that you will allow it unrestricted access your system.

Ok, AT first there was a flurry of activity, now it seems to have slowed down a bit. I'm guessing your client just banned a bunch of bots?

That would be correct. The BOTs do consume a bunch of your bandwidth that your actual visitors should be using.

Update: no errors or crashes so far. Still seeing a few entries in the log, seems to be working fine. Is there anything a legit visitor or member could do to be mistaken for a malicious bot?

They could keep attempting to log on using the incorrect password lots of times instead of using the 'forgot password' link... Something a BOT would do. You should still see new entries in the log as new BOTs find your site... The better your ranking in the search engines, the better the BOTs can find you unfortunately...  :(

Update: Everything seems to be ok. Still seeing activity on the log. Gotta a question though. My webhost is trying to get me to buy their optional (and pricey) firewall for my forum. Would i really need that now?

Absolutely not!

A "real" firewall service should be included in hosting since it is their machine the hackers will be gaining access to.
Otherwise they are selling smoke using scare tactics...

You will see activity in the logs as long as there are BOTs on the web attempting to gain access to your system...

is it ban google bots ?

Only fake GoogleBots... Use the Goggle Search Console to verify that your account is being indexed.

BotBanish 3.2.01 has just been released.

BotBanish Release History (https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-release-history/botbanish-pending-release/)

BotBanish 3.2.02 has just been released.

BotBanish Release History (https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-release-history/botbanish-pending-release/)

Hi, is there any update planed to make it available for SMF 2.1  RC1?
I tried to install it but there are too many manual modifications to do and I am not sure of the result.

Aloha ForumMustang.com,

Yes, we were waiting for this version to settle down a bit before committing...
We will look into this.

ForumMustang.com,

We have a BETA for SMF 2.1 RC1. If you would like to see it let me know.

Hi. yes I would like to see it and I can test it for you if needed.

I have uploaded BotBanish 3.2.05 BETA which also works on SMF 2.1 RC1
to the MOD section - https://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=4158 (https://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=4158)
and to https://botbanish.com (https://botbanish.com). You can download from either location.

Obscure bug, but with this mod installed, you get a 403 error when trying to remove hooks using the function under SMF's Maintenance menu.

Can be worked around by temporarily uninstalling BotBanish, but thought I'd pass it along anyway. Thanks for updating for 2.1 RC1

You are welcome and Thanks for the feedback TurtleKicker,

I will try to replicate this. Which MOD did you have installed that had hooks that you wanted to remove. Removing BotBanish hooks would not be good for BotBanish and would cause unpredictable results.

Quote from: Randem on March 08, 2019, 12:23:32 AM
I have uploaded BotBanish 3.2.05 BETA which also works on SMF 2.1 RC1
to the MOD section - https://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=4158 (https://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=4158)
and to https://botbanish.com (https://botbanish.com). You can download from either location.

Thank you. The mod was installed successfully without any error, there was nothing displayed in the error logs either but there as a conflict with Tinyportal which stopped work so we had to uninstall Botbanish.

Did you check the BotBanish Logs? If TinyPortal is being blocked by BotBanish, you can place it in the Do No Block table.
I haven't seen any new accounts hit the server. I will install TinyPortal to see what the conflict may be.

I installed TinyPortal After BotBanish and TinyPortal appears to work. What exactly stopped working? Can you give details?
Also why would there be a reason to remove intergration hooks?

Quote from: Randem on March 08, 2019, 04:39:14 PM
Which MOD did you have installed that had hooks that you wanted to remove. Removing BotBanish hooks would not be good for BotBanish and would cause unpredictable results.

It was a failed install of the Battle mod. It wasn't shown as installed in packages, but it had indeed dumped files, created tables, and installed hooks. It was a broken install and was flooding the error logs, so I had to clean things up manually, part of which involved removing the hooks through the SMF GUI. That's where I discovered BotBanish was blocking that action apparently thinking it was suspicious. By temporarily uninstalling BotBanish I got the leftover Battle hooks removed, then I just re-installed BotBanish.

Ok, that makes sense. Glad that worked. That issue has been corrected thanks to your feedback.

Quote from: ForumMustang.com on March 08, 2019, 07:21:44 PM

Quote from: Randem on March 08, 2019, 12:23:32 AM
I have uploaded BotBanish 3.2.05 BETA which also works on SMF 2.1 RC1
to the MOD section - https://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=4158 (https://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=4158)
and to https://botbanish.com (https://botbanish.com). You can download from either location.

Thank you. The mod was installed successfully without any error, there was nothing displayed in the error logs either but there as a conflict with Tinyportal which stopped work so we had to uninstall Botbanish.

Hi,

Idem for me :)

Version Smf 2.1 RC1.

I have tried this module.

No errors in Smf logs and no errors during installation.

Report : css display error

For Fix replace code for index.tempate --> before by replace.


<search position="before"><![CDATA[<div id="top_section">
]]></search>

<add><![CDATA[
<div id="top_section">';
global $botbanish_hidden_honeypot_link;
echo PHP_EOL . sprintf($botbanish_hidden_honeypot_link) . PHP_EOL;
echo '
]]></add>


Just for information:

No API key for this version?

Identical characteristics if you use an API key?

Thanks.

:)

Thanks maximus23,

That was a bit of an oversight. It will be fixed.

A different API Key is for paid versions. There is more functionality in the paid version but the free version is not crippled.

Quote from: Randem on March 09, 2019, 01:01:54 AM
Thanks maximus23,

That was a bit of an oversight. It will be fixed.

A different API Key is for paid versions. There is more functionality in the paid version but the free version is not crippled.

Ok Thanks :)

French Translation :

Common for 2.0 and 2.1 :

File : Settings_Client.php

Search :

define('BOTBANISH_LANGUAGES', serialize(array('english', 'spanish_latin', 'spanish_latin-utf8')));

Replace by :

define('BOTBANISH_LANGUAGES', serialize(array('english', 'spanish_latin', 'spanish_latin-utf8', 'french', 'french-utf8')));


File : BotBanish_Subs

Search :

$config_vars[] = array('select','BOTBANISH_LANGUAGE_SELECT', array('english', 'spanish_latin', 'spanish_latin-utf8'));

Replace by :

$config_vars[] = array('select','BOTBANISH_LANGUAGE_SELECT', array('english', 'spanish_latin', 'spanish_latin-utf8', 'french', 'french-utf8'));



XML Code Operation :


<file name="$languagedir/Modifications.french.php" error="skip">
<operation>
<search position="end" />
<add><![CDATA[
// BotBanish Settings
$txt['BOTBANISH_ACTIVE'] = '<b>BotBanish Actif</b>';
$txt['BOTBANISH_APIKEY'] = 'Cl&eacute; API pour BotBanish';
$txt['BOTBANISH_SEND_EMAIL_ALERTS'] = 'Envoyer des alertes par courriel si la case est coch&eacute;e / &eacute;crire des alertes dans le journal des erreurs si ce n\'est pas le cas';
$txt['BOTBANISH_CHECK_UPDATES'] = 'V&eacute;rifier automatiquement les mises &agrave; jour (uniquement dans le gestionnaire de paquets)';
$txt['BOTBANISH_RENAME_TABLES'] = 'Renommer les tables install&eacute;es lors de la d&eacute;sinstallation si la case est coch&eacute;e / Supprimer les tables si ce n\'est pas le cas';
$txt['BOTBANISH_LANGUAGE_SELECT'] = 'S&eacute;lectionner la Langue';
$txt['BOTBANISH_DOC_ERRORS'] = 'Surveiller les erreurs de documents de la s&eacute;rie 400 et bloquer les attaques par injection PHP/SQL';
// End of BotBanish Settings
]]></add>
</operation>
</file>

<file name="$languagedir/Modifications.french-utf8.php" error="skip">
<operation>
<search position="end" />
<add><![CDATA[
// BotBanish Settings
$txt['BOTBANISH_ACTIVE'] = '<b>BotBanish Actif</b>';
$txt['BOTBANISH_APIKEY'] = 'Cl&eacute; API pour BotBanish';
$txt['BOTBANISH_SEND_EMAIL_ALERTS'] = 'Envoyer des alertes par courriel si coch&eacute; / &eacute;crire des alertes dans le journal des erreurs si ce n\'est pas le cas';
$txt['BOTBANISH_CHECK_UPDATES'] = 'V&eacute;rifier automatiquement les mises &agrave; jour (uniquement dans le gestionnaire de paquets)';
$txt['BOTBANISH_RENAME_TABLES'] = 'Renommer les tables install&eacute;es lors de la d&eacute;sinstallation si coch&eacute; / Supprimer les tables si ce n\'est pas le cas';
$txt['BOTBANISH_LANGUAGE_SELECT'] = 'S&eacute;lectionner la Langue';
$txt['BOTBANISH_DOC_ERRORS'] = 'Surveiller les erreurs de documents de la s&eacute;rie 400 et bloquer les attaques par injection PHP/SQL';
// End of BotBanish Settings
]]></add>
</operation>
</file>


Files below for 2.0 and 2.1.

:)

Thanks maximus23,

I will incorporate the French Language  :)

All requested and suggested changes have been incorporated in the latest BETA version and is available for download in the MOD section as well as https://botbanish.com (https://botbanish.com)

deny from 54.36.148.100
deny from 54.36.150.124
deny from 54.36.148.0
deny from 54.36.148.51
deny from 54.36.149.48
deny from 54.36.148.34
deny from 54.36.149.202
deny from 54.36.150.151
deny from 54.36.150.91
deny from 54.36.149.71
deny from 54.36.149.69
deny from 54.36.150.179
deny from 54.36.150.85
deny from 54.36.150.156
deny from 54.36.148.88
deny from 54.36.148.212
deny from 54.36.148.166
deny from 54.36.148.163
Deny from env=bad_bot
deny from 106.38.241.156
deny from 111.202.101.94
deny from 17.58.97.223
deny from 217.73.208.151
deny from 3.82.98.139
deny from 35.192.84.7
deny from 35.227.165.74
deny from 42.236.10.74
deny from 54.213.123.74
deny from 63.143.42.246
deny from 63.143.42.253


cpu attacking bots.

my site is not pressing most of the time

Aloha Replikacep,

You did not pose a question... The information you posted are IP from BOTS that are attempting to gain access to your site and have been stopped. I can see that you are getting hit from mostly from Roubaix, Hauts-de-France and the IP list is not fluid. Possibly a Cut / Paste issue. Only showing part of the file will not help determine much.

More about some of the bots that are hitting your site (54.36.*.*) - https://ahrefs.com/robot (https://ahrefs.com/robot)

If you would like this bot to hit your site you can place the domain in the good spider table (useragent - href)

Quote from: Randem on March 10, 2019, 02:13:08 PM
Aloha Replikacep,

You did not pose a question... The information you posted are IP from BOTS that are attempting to gain access to your site and have been stopped. I can see that you are getting hit from mostly from Roubaix, Hauts-de-France and the IP list is not fluid. Possibly a Cut / Paste issue. Only showing part of the file will not help determine much.

More about some of the bots that are hitting your site (54.36.*.*) - https://ahrefs.com/robot (https://ahrefs.com/robot)

If you would like this bot to hit your site you can place the domain in the good spider table (useragent - href)

how to get rid of these boots

Unfortunately I had to ultimately uninstall this mod. Not only was it blocking my ping monitor service (unfortunately this mod provides no UI/mechanism for whitelisting), but I was also getting complaints from legit humans that it was blocking them from accessing the site. I was able to recreate this myself when trying to access from certain networks/devices.

Replikacep,

They are already taken care of by BotBanish and not able to hit your forum. Not sure exactly what you mean.

TurtleKicker,

A UI is in the Paid version. The free version you would need to manually enter the information in the whitelist.

Could you give a bit more detail on the "certain" networks and devices?

How was BotBanish blocking legit humans? If BotBanish blocked someone by IP, uninstalling BotBanish would not make that go away. That would need to be done manually.

BotBanish does not block devices but will block bad user-agents and multiple bad login attempts. What are the User-Agent that these devices use or what is the domain and IP addresses that were blocked? I can look the information on why they were blocked.

Unfortunately, it prohibits normal IP addresses.

me even banladi direct to googleye atti

You are not giving any detailed information. Normal is very vague and consists of every IP address...
Normal is not what BotBanish blocks.

Quote from: Randem on March 10, 2019, 10:09:19 PM
Could you give a bit more detail on the "certain" networks and devices?

How was BotBanish blocking legit humans? If BotBanish blocked someone by IP, uninstalling BotBanish would not make that go away. That would need to be done manually.

BotBanish does not block devices but will block bad user-agents and multiple bad login attempts. What are the User-Agent that these devices use or what is the domain and IP addresses that were blocked? I can look the information on why they were blocked.

Unfortunately I don't have the details at this point. What I can tell you is that Uptime Robot, at least one user on his computer, and me when connecting via the Android version of Firefox all got a white screen when trying to access the forum. Once BotBanish was uninstalled, the site immediately became functional. I cannot resolve the "why" based upon your description of how BotBanish functions... you know the way it operates more than anyone... all I can tell you is the symptoms and that it was 100% related to BotBanish.

My site is in the testing phase and isn't being advertised publicly, however I do have a bunch of users testing it at the moment. I do have SMF enforcing HTTPS, if that matters.

I will say though that it's disconcerting that you say that uninstalling BotBanish won't unblock people. I wouldn't want to install anything that wouldn't properly uninstall itself if needed, especially given the fact that BotBanish is clearly incorrectly blocking legit users. Things need to be cleanly reversible.

Sorry you are having issues with BotBanish, However it is nothing to be disconcerted about. An IP or User-Agent is placed in your .htaccess file to block these types of users. It would be reckless for ANY program to totally remove things from your .htaccess file especially if there is no way to determine if the program itself placed them there. Of course we do backup the .htaccess file but it would also be reckless for us to blindly restore this backup because others (including the user) may have made changes. This is why it is recommended that you backup your .htaccess file BEFORE installing BotBanish. This is so that if you do not like it you can restore your .htaccess file to the way it was before installation. This is common production practice and should NEVER be ignored. On the installation and on the MOD page we give a strict warning in big red letters about this.

This symptom of white screens may be related to BotBanish but not necessarily caused by BotBanish. We would have heard from our users about something this major. However it may be that BotBanish is conflicting with another MOD and so in uninstalling either MOD the issue would resolve. White screens are a fact of a PHP error that can be caused by almost anything. It would be helpful to look in your PHP Error Log to get the correct problem indicator. This would give you the correct solution not just a reactionary one. If BotBanish is the cause our user know that we correct issues very quickly once they are reported. This is why we ask for detailed information. These issues are not solved by anyone guessing.

We are always happy to help resolve issues but we cannot do that without proper information that would help to do so. This is why we ask for detailed information so the issue can be tracked down. We cannot do this without it. We test BotBanish extensively with no other MODs installed to be sure that BotBanish is not creating more problems than it solves especially white screens.

With help from our BETA users. We have corrected the issue regarding the white screen and the denial of legitimate users. Please follow our suggestions for further testing.

More details here (https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-general-questions-report-bugs-problems-etc/blank-screen-for-users-when-legitimate-users-access-your-site/)

New Update Release of BotBanish 3.2.05 BETA is available for download in the MOD (https://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=4158) Area or from here (https://botbanish.com)

Update Details (https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-release-history/botbanish-pending-release/msg6384/#msg6384)

New 3.2.05.03 BETA release of BotBanish has been released to the MOD area. Release History & Contents (https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-release-history/botbanish-pending-release/)

BotBanish 3.2.0.5 Has been released in the MOD area. Release History & Contents (https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-release-history/botbanish-pending-release/)

BotBanish 3.3.00 Coming Soon. It will have website and file download Analytics WITHOUT the BOT traffic. It will give the user the ability to stop spiders / robots from downloading files. Why would a BOT need a download anyway? More info (https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-release-history/botbanish-pending-release/)

BotBanish Version 3.3.00 Released Today with Analytics!

Hi,
Has anyone tried this with the Dani Theme?

I tried to download the current version at: http://botbanish.com - The Ultimate BOT Defender for SMF, OpenCart, WordPress  & Websites
but I receive a 500 error, Page not available.

Also, If I go to: https://randemsystems.com/support/ - Discusware to SMF Converter / BotBanish Support
it sends me to Google.com

Aloha sonnyh,

We were updating the site, the download selection is working now.
What is your IP? If you go to Google you were locked out. We can remove your IP from the blocked list. In the effort to download you must have triggered the block.

Hi,
IP is 24.148.21.81

Thank you.

Also, do you know if this is compatible with the Dani theme?

That IP has not been seen by any of our servers, so you have not been locked out.  If you are using a Tor browser, lockouts can happen because the Tor browsers change IP addresses every 10 minutes...

Unknown as to which themes BotBanish will work with. What you can do is to attempt to install it. The Package Manager will tell you if it is compatible code wise. If you get no errors, then you should be good. If you do let us know (possibly a screen shot) and we can look into it.

Ok, I set up a test installation which I will try first:)
I am using the current version of Chrome
Also, the SMF download button takes me to a blank page and nothing else happens.

Ok, Thanks. Looking into it...

Download issue fixed. Still updating site...

Got it.
Thanks.

I will probably try to test tomorrow and let you know

Hi,
Uploaded and installed BotBanish.
It is showing under Installed Packages, but I do not see the directory.

Where would you be expecting the folder to be that you cannot find it? Also why would you need to find it other than how the documentation states to use BotBanish? You have in your main menu a BotBanish selection which should be all that you need to operate it.

Apparently I misunderstood the directions for settings etc on this page: https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-for-smf/installation-process-for-simple-machines-forum-(smf)-version/

I see it in the menu line.

Which functions do not work without API?
I can see the flyout for blacklist & whitelist but can not access the listings fro either.
Other than that it seems to work with the Dani Theme.
Looks like I can add it to the main site.

What is involved in obtaining API?
Also, the support button still sends me to Google.

Followup on flyout menu issue.
It appears that the gap between dropdown and flyout is the problem.
Also, how do I remove BotBanisg from my test site before I delete the site?

I installed BotBanish on the main site and everything seems to be working except the Chat Box shows: BotBanish_Subs Hacking attempt...

Also under Analytics there is a warning: Warning: file_exists(): open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/home/wp-load.php) is not within the allowed path(s): (/home/XXXXXXXX/:/tmp:/var/tmp:/usr/local/lib/php/:/usr/local/php56/lib/php/) in /home/XXXXXX/domains/XXXXXX.org/public_html/BotBanish/bot/Scripts/BotBanishAnalytics.php on line 1560 (I have X out sensitive info)

Still have the problem with the Dropdown menu flyout spacing as mentioned above.

As long as you are an administrator all BotBanish menu options are available, If you are not an Administrator they are not. Do you have WordPress installed on the same domain? That should be the only way you should get an wp-load.php error. If there are old traces of and uncompleted uninstalled WordPress then this will happen also. One other thought, If there are permissions on the file / folder that BotBanish is attempting to access would cause this error.

Removing BotBanish is the same as installing BotBanish, thru the SMF Package Manager...

WordPress is not setup on the site, and I am the admin.
There does not seem to have any unusual permissions set.

Also, the chatbox is showing "BotBanish_Subs Hacking attempt..." and will not work

I tried to reply to your personal message and receive: "User 'Randem' has blocked your personal message."

The ip is: 24.148.21.81

Ok, I changed my PM settings. Also /home/wp-load.php is where the error message states that the WordPress installation is. Please check your home folder for this file. I will be changing the search criteria so that this will not happen even if WordPress is installed.

No wp-load.php found.

Any thoughts on the chat box problem?

Working on it.  I will let you know when I have something for you.

Ok, I see what you mean with the menus. It would have been impossible to visualize with the explanation. It does not work well with your theme in the top main menu. Looking into it.

I found that if you left-click and drag over to the flyout you can then make selections.

Also, when you mouse-over the Analytics button the button text flickers.

I tried to delete some of the whitelisted BOTs and could not.  We really do not want any BOTS on the site.

That is a strange menu selection. I am moving the BotBanish selection from the main menu to the Features and Options section to see if that make a difference.
Look in your error log, you will find that your themes is causing lots of issues you might want to look into. The reason you can't delete the whitelist spiders was a typo on our part (fixed). Lower case letter instead of uppercase one.

Those pesky typos

What plugin is Chat Box?

Nchat.

Looks like it was up for a moment

Can I use wildcard for Blacklisting BOTs?
There are several .googlebot.com that I have found.
Can I use *.googlebot.com to block all?
this one was crawl-66-249-66-214.googlebot.com

Fake Goggle Bots are automatically blocked by the server. You will need to put in your Blacklist all the good bots that BotBanish does not block I.E. Google, Bing etc... No Wildcards can be used. You can however place googlebot.com in the domain blacklist. That would be how wildcards are utilized.

I downloaded and installed nchat without issue. Your NChat seems to have not installed correctly. There are no setting for nchat in your miscellaneous section. Check where they have gone. It may have a conflict with another mod and BotBanish is catching it.

Ok, I will try to reinstall it

Thank you for all your help

I also noticed that I installed 1.3.2 and you have version 1.2, that could be something...

Is that 1.3.2 of Nchat?

I uninstalled and installed nChat. no change

Yes, recently downloaded. You re-installed old version...

Didn't that version in list.

Where can I get it and I will install

I found out that it would not matter which version you installed. It seems to be coded differently and that is why it shows up as a hacking attempt. It is not running inside SMF and not following structured SMF flow.

I am adjusting BotBanish to handle that situation better...

It has been adjusted... NChat is up as far as I can tell...

Thank you so much for all the time spent in solving this issue.
The logs show some interesting attempts to access the site.

Please let me know how I can repay you for your time.

Best,
Sonny

Thank You. No need for repayment; You helped me solve some things that I have not seen before. I appreciate your assistance. Make sure all the spiders are removed from the Whitelist and add the domains to the blacklist of any spider that you do not want on your site. Those list are different from the global list on the server.

Black list question.
If I blacklist an ISP like UPCNET.RO will that block all IP addresses associated with it?
Is there a way to block blocks of IP addresses like with .htaccess?

Yes, you can place that domain in the domain blacklist. If enough bad hits happen from an IP segment, the whole segment will be automatically blocked in the .htaccess file.

Thank you

Hi Randem

I recently installed BotBasnish and then Uninstalled it. After Uninstall it is constantly generating Errors and more then 500 Errors I can see in Error Log generated by BotBanish.

The uninstalled plugin is generating different errors. few examples are below. Kindly help to fix it.
Reason to uninstall plugin was: That I felt it was stopping Google Crawlers to stop crawl and indexing in Google and also I noticed, it was slowing down forums.


The callable BotBanishClient_AddActions could not be called.
Hook call: function "BotBanishClient_AddMenuButtons" in file /home/public_html could not be called.
The callable BotBanishClient_AddMenuButtons could not be called.
Missing argument 1 for BotBanishGetLocalIPList(), called in /home/public_html/Packages/temp/DatabaseUninstall.php on line 27 and defined
2: include_once(): Failed opening '/home/public_html/Sources/BotBanish_Subs_DB_SMF.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/opt/php54/lib/php')


above are few examples of errors and there 100s of like this more...

kindly help!

Aloha sub0,

I need more information from you in order to help.

What version of BotBanish do you have? You should be on BotBanish version 3.3.02. The error you show should should not have happened AFTER install but should have happened on install if the Package Manager stated that there were errors. Those error indicate a problem with installation that should not have been allowed to continued. It looks like files are not where they are supposed to be.

BotBanish does NOT stop Goggle crawlers period. What BotBanish does is stop BOTs that spoof Google crawlers. You would not know the difference by just looking at the name. On the internet everything can be spoofed... As far as slowing down the forum, that should be expected if you have bots that are hitting your site. As far as known legitimate users they would not notice the difference unless the BOTs are hitting your site with any frequency; which is why I believe you wanted to install BotBanish.

Manually removing BotBanish: https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-general-questions-report-bugs-problems-etc/manually-removing-botbanish/

Have you been to the support site for BotBanish. It would have answered many question. I will help you get things straightened out. I would need to see your .htaccess file.

Hi,
I have the self register turned off.
Is there a way to remove the "Register" button?
If not is there a way to change the message that pops up when register is selected?

BotBanish does not have a register button...

Thank you,

Another issue regarding spider blacklist.
This one has not been blocked.
Who's Online:
Google (AdSense) (107.175.153.217)

Error messages from IP 107.175.153.217
107.175.153.217   Guest   Ran into problems sending Mail. Error: 550 No such recipient here

?action=help   Today at 01:05:37 AM
107.175.153.217   Guest   8192: Function create_function() is deprecated
?action=register   June 08, 2019, 10:06:25 PM
107.175.153.217   Guest   8192: Function create_function() is deprecated
?action=register   June 08, 2019, 10:06:25 PM
107.175.153.217   Guest   8192: Function create_function() is deprecated
?action=register   June 08, 2019, 10:06:25 PM
107.175.153.217   Guest   8192: Function create_function() is deprecated
?action=register   June 08, 2019, 10:06:25 PM

Note there were 28 of these.

This IP was not added to the blacklist.
Also, in doing some research Mediapartners-Google is supposed to block Google AdSense, which is already in the Spider Blacklist.

Any thoughts / suggestions?

Those messages have nothing to do with BotBanish. You are running PHP 7.x which is why you are getting those messages from SMF. SMF is good for up to PHP 5.6.x. As far as your spider blacklist, I have no idea of what is in your spider blacklist to give a qualified answer.

To correct that a bit, create_function() is deprecated in 7.2, and SMF does not yet support 7.2. (7.1 should be OK.)

Server is showing PHP 5.6

Wouldn't be the first time servers lie, where did you check that?

There is a switch.
I will give my host a call to be sure.

Quote from: sonnyh on July 08, 2019, 01:06:09 PM
There is a switch.
I will give my host a call to be sure.

They verified that PHP version 5.6.40 is running on the server

Well, 5.6 will not cause the error that create_function() is deprecated, because in 5.6 it is not.

Ok,
The only versions that are available to me on the server are 5.6.40 and 7.2.

What might a phpinfo -file tell you?

What is a phpinfo() file? (https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/What_is_a_phpinfo()_file)

Shows PHP Version 5.6.40

Please start another thread with this subject, this is off topic from the BotBanish Client.

I think we are actually done, unless the errors come back again for some reason - if they do, then yes, lets continue in another topic. Sorry for the hijack Randem.

How would you say this compared to reCAPTCHA?

JimmyStanley,

I would need a complete idea to know exactly what you are referring too... BotBanish Firewall Client and reCAPTCHA do two distinctly different functions.

Hi,
I updated to the new version of BotBanish, and now receiving several 403 errors.
Several legitimate IPs have been blacklisted, which I removed from BotBanish, but they are still being blocked.
Do I have to go through .htacess too?

Quote from: sonnyh on October 13, 2019, 11:14:41 AM
Hi,
I updated to the new version of BotBanish, and now receiving several 403 errors.
Several legitimate IPs have been blacklisted, which I removed from BotBanish, but they are still being blocked.
Do I have to go through .htacess too?

I looked at the htaccess and the IPs that I un-blacklisted were still there.
Also there are several htaccess files with appended dates, are they needed? 

Aloha sonnyh,

The htaccess files with the dates appended are just backup files, when BotBanish was installed it created them. As far as the IP that were still in your htaccess file, were there two different set of IP denial areas in your htaccess file? Are you running on Apache 2.2 or Apache 2.4? BotBanish 3.4.00 will use the 2.4 version format if you are running on 2.4 and 2.2 if you are running on 2.2. If the IP addresses you mention are in the 2.2 format then BotBanish running on Apache 2.4 will not manage those entries and they will need to be managed manually. The next revision of BotBanish will offer a conversion of the 2.2 format to 2.4 format to make the htaccess file uniform.

As far as the 403 errors, where are the 403 errors? Are they in the Apache error.log file or are you seeing them in the SMF error log? Could you show the errors because they are permission errors.

BTW: Just removing the IP's from the BotBanish blacklist will not suffice, you would also need to add the IP's to the BotBanish whitelist to keep them from being blocked again on your system. Then those IP's will only be allowed on your system not everyone else's.

Hi,
Just checked and am running 2.4.41.
403 error is what members that were denied access were receiving.
Should I clean up the htaccess?
Remove the 2.2 section?  If are the sections marked?
I do not want to mess anything up.

I need to see the error information to find out exactly where the 403 error exists.
I need to see the htaccess file to give you an answer...

Hello,
Attached is the htaccess
I am going to look at the error log and send that later.

Dumb question, how do I isolate the 403 errors from the SMF log?

Here is your updated htaccess file. Any reason you are blocking certain Windows versions and android devices?
I removed them from the file, these are not something BotBanish blocks.
As far as isolating 403 messages from the SMF error log, you might need to use phpMyAdmin to do the searching. Is that where you see the 403 messages? Who is generating those error messages? If not and your users are seeing the 403 error messages, I need to see the error that they see.
A 403 error message handled by BotBanish will redirect the error to a file titled BotBanish_AccessError.php in the root location, Make sure this file has permissions that the users can access it. I believe permissions 644 will do.

Thank you, I replaced the htaccess
The 403 is seen by the blocked members when logging in.
It says: Forbidden
             You don't have permission to access this resource.

The only 403 log reference I could find is:

Forbidden urls (HTTP code 403)   
URL (9)   Error Hits   Referrers
/smf/index.php   29   -
/pma/scripts/setup.php   15   -
/phpMyAdmin/scripts/setup.php   15   -
/phpmyadmin/scripts/setup.php   14   -
/phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin/index.php   14   -
/phpMyAdmin/phpMyAdmin/index.php   14   -
/pma/scripts/db___.init.php   13   -
/phpmyadmin/scripts/db___.init.php   13   -
/phpMyAdmin/scripts/db___.init.php   13   -

BotBanish_AccessError.php is set to 666

Another error:

Database Error
Unknown column 'rpt_date' in 'field list'
File: /home/rmarsorg/domains/r5mars.org/public_html/smf/Sources/BotBanish_Subs_DB_SMF.php
Line: 655

Note: It appears that your database may require an upgrade. Your forum's files are currently at version SMF 2.0.15, while your database is at version 2.0. The above error might possibly go away if you execute the latest version of upgrade.php.

Strange, the rpt_date field was supposed to be added to the database table botbanishclient_website_visits at install time. Were there any errors at install time? What happened at install time?

As far as the 403 errors you did not give me a reference to where you found those 403 errors. Was it in your Apache error.log file (Server)?
If so then those uses are getting blocked by the server for accessing files that are in areas that are restricted for their access as it should. Your users should not be attempting to access /phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin/index.php or the other such folders and files unless you specifically gave them permissions to access this folder and file. From the looks of what you are showing in your list, the users are searching for vulnerabilities and should be blocked...

There were no errors at installation.  All items tested ok.
The database error just showed up.
No one should be assessing /phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin/index.php, unless something is pointing incorrectly. 

Check the URL's that the users are using when they get a 403. That should give you some idea as to why they are getting the error.

BotBanish 3.4.01 has been released and is a REQUIRED update for 3.4.00 for IP / BOT blocking.
Please update ALL prior BotBanish versions to the latest release for compatibility.

Hello,
I just updated to 3.4.01.
Should I now delete prior versions of BotBanish?

Aloha sonnyh, just uninstall the old version and install the new one then delete the old version from SMF.

Thank you

hmmm thought I'd give this mod a try but am encountering two errors upon install.

ONE
23. Extract File ./RegisterAccount.php  File not found

TWO
34. Extract File ./Sources/BotBanishAnalyticsShow.php File not found

Aloha woolly bugger,

Please give more detailed information on this install. No one has reported this on recent installs and there are a few.

1 - What version number of BotBanish are you using?
2 - I imagine you are using the SMF version?
3 - What is the domain name you are installing onto?
4 - Where did you get the BotBanish MOD you are trying to install?

I just downloaded version 3.4.01 from the SMF MOD site and there are no errors in the install (see attached image).
Any information that can help would be useful.

Quote from: Randem on November 18, 2019, 09:27:09 PM
Aloha woolly bugger,

Please give more detailed information on this install. No one has reported this on recent installs and there are a few.

1 - What version number of BotBanish are you using?
2 - I imagine you are using the SMF version?
3 - What is the domain name you are installing onto?
4 - Where did you get the BotBanish MOD you are trying to install?

I just downloaded version 3.4.01 from the SMF MOD site and there are no errors in the install (see attached image).
Any information that can help would be useful.

3.4.01 from SMF

SMF 2.1 RC 2

https://www.brfff.com/forum

Thanks woolly bugger,

The error has been corrected in version 2.1 RC2. It was a typo in the package-info.xml file that was not updated to the new file naming convention.
I uploaded the correction - BotBanish 3.4.02
Thanks for reporting this oversight.

installed and appeared to be working but then i got error 500 for the whole site
tried deleting the .htaccess  but am still gettin error 500

Hello I installed a fresh smf forum, first thing I did was install botbanish, I am having the error 500 and it has happen so far 3 times,  it block all the domain and subdomains not just the forum,  this is what I am using:

SMF 2.1 RC2
BotBanish 3.4.02 downloaded from this site, also I got a warning from sfm that there was and update on https://botbanish.com/ but I got the same files I dunno if there are changes (also at the time I am posting this, that site is also giving me the error 500)
Apache Version    2.4.41
PHP Version    7.2.24
MySQL Version    5.6.45
OS Linux

first time I deleted everything (even smf) since I did not know what was the problem and after re installation I used the files from botbanish.com so I am sure I have the official and last version. For the second time is when I noticed this error happens when botbanish stops a force brute attack and then edits my htaccess file to block and IP this is the report from SMF error log:

Type of error: botbanish
BotBanishClient: A Brute Force Registration Attack Attempt Stopped - mysite.com
A BOT/USER is attacking the system. It has been terminated
IP Address: 158.69.121.179
User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/66.0.3359.170 Safari/537.36 OPR/53.0.2907.106
BotBanish Client 3.4.01 (SMF) https://mysite.com/forum/index.php?action=login2

Noticed that SMF error report says that the version is 3.4.01 but as I said I installed the very last one and I repeat is a fresh forum I did not have previous installations, and to be able to unblock my site I edited htaccess and deleted this lines so the site works again :


# * * * * * BotBanish IP Start * * * * *
<Files>
<RequireAll>
Require all granted
Require not ip 158.69.121.179
</RequireAll>
</Files>
# * * * * * BotBanish IP End * * * * *

But this solution I think is not the appropriate one because it happened again when I got another bot attack hours later, SMF reported the same error just with a different IP address.

Also I have another error that SMF log report  but I am not sure if they are related:
Type of error: General
8192: Function create_function() is deprecated https://mysite.com/forum/index.php?action=botbanish;area=viewblacklistips
/home/mysite/public_html/forum/Sources/BotBanish_BlackWhiteLists_Manage.php (Line 692)


I am bit of stuck here, thanks.

The <Files> statement should be <Files *>, This has been changed.

Also BotBanish 3.4.02 was not PHP 7.x compatible (create_function()). The update 3.4.03 is now PHP 7.x compatible.

I just made a correction and uploaded it. This should solve those issues.

i did a fresh install of smf to get the board back... don't want to have to go through that again...

A fresh install is never required. a simple change in the .htaccess file will get the board back up and running. There are many boards running BotBanish an of course we can't anticipate all the nuances of the .htaccess files users have. All of our boards are running BotBanish which includes our support board which can give you all the assistance that you need.

BTW: BotBanish ALWAYS creates a backup .htaccess file for this very reason. All it would take is to make the backup file the current one to get the site backup and running.

I received this error during installation. This mode does not load what caused the problem.

Field 'updated' doesn't have a default value

httpdocs/Packages/temp/DatabaseInstall.php

Satır: 631

Hosting php 5.5

Aloha tarantula901,

Version 3.4.04 was released yesterday to solve this issue. Please install the latest version.

Quote from: Randem on December 05, 2019, 04:03:41 PM
Aloha tarantula901,

Version 3.4.04 was released yesterday to solve this issue. Please install the latest version.

I'm already using the latest version.

Quote from: tarantula901 on December 05, 2019, 05:39:00 PM

Quote from: Randem on December 05, 2019, 04:03:41 PM
Aloha tarantula901,

Version 3.4.04 was released yesterday to solve this issue. Please install the latest version.

I'm already using the latest version.

Without stating the version how can it be ascertained what the "latest version" is? People always say the latest version and most of the time it is not... Please state the file name of the MOD you are installing.

Quote from: Randem on December 05, 2019, 06:05:37 PM

Quote from: tarantula901 on December 05, 2019, 05:39:00 PM

Quote from: Randem on December 05, 2019, 04:03:41 PM
Aloha tarantula901,

Version 3.4.04 was released yesterday to solve this issue. Please install the latest version.

I'm already using the latest version.

Without stating the version how can it be ascertained what the "latest version" is? People always say the latest version and most of the time it is not... Please state the file name of the MOD you are installing.

I added the picture of the mode to the attachment.

Link to the mode I used

https://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=4158

Please re-download the software and re-install. The download that you have is possibly incomplete. The complete upload only has one download and we know who that was...

I installed this mod and now I am getting a error accessing the forum.

Field 'updated' doesn't have a default value

Also I can't even uninstall it as the admin side is also throwing this error.

Aloha sgrayban,

What version are you using?
This sounds like the database files were not populated.
Did you get a message of completion after installation?

It said that it completed. Version is what ever the link downloaded.

The package was installed successfully. You should now be able to use whatever functionality it adds or changes; or not be able to use functionality it removes.

Is there a way to manually run the db commands?

Try adding a default value of "null" to the field.

Which table ?

Quote from: Sir Osis of Liver on May 12, 2020, 06:38:55 PM
Try adding a default value of "null" to the field.

Got it.. thanks!

It's not a core field.  Find it with this query -



SELECT table_name,table_schema
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE column_name='updated'



Quote from: sgrayban on May 12, 2020, 06:37:28 PM
It said that it completed. Version is what ever the link downloaded.

The version is important. We can't tell when you downloaded the MOD. The version number is in the file name of the MOD.
If you can go into phpMyAdmin you can check the tables that are empty (botbanishclient_) then load the data from the files in the MOD in the "include" folder that start with bbs_

What version of SMF are you using?

The tables are most likely:

botbanishclient_domain_bad
botbanishclient_domain_good
botbanishclient_domain_spiders
botbanishclient_domain_spiders_bad
botbanishclient_domain_spiders_good

All the BotBanish tables had a field "updated". The issue is the empty tables that did not get data imported.

you can also use this method (https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-general-questions-report-bugs-problems-etc/field-'updated'-doesn't-have-a-default-value/new/#new)

Just installed latest version BotBanish_Client_SMF_v3.6.03.zip and now my website is blank and cant get back to the package uninstall page: https://bikerhound.com please help

How do i uninstall this mod? Getting this error when trying to uninstall in package manager: Call to undefined function BotBanishBlockedIPGetList()

Also when trying to uninstall without uninstalling data checked get this error: BotBanish_Subs Hacking attempt...

I have tried installing this mod (the latest version) on SMF 2.1.2, but only get the following error message after I click "Install Now":
Primary Key field missing in insert call

What does that mean, and how do I resolve it?

I don't get any errors when I upload, but when I go to install the mod it brings up a blank page (although page source shows plenty of data). I worried that it bricked my website, but the website still seems fine and the mod shows as still not installed. So no error, but not working yet.

SMF 2.1.2

Just tried v4.0.04

Now I get an error on the file checks for file ./Sources/ShowAttachments.php

Here's the section that fails the find:
                $smcFunc['db_query']('', '
                    UPDATE {db_prefix}attachments
                    SET downloads = downloads + 1
                    WHERE id_attach = {int:id_attach}',
                    array(
                        'id_attach' => $attachId,
                    )
                );
Thing is, this is identical to what's in my version of the file, except for the leading whitespaces. Does SMF package check fail if whitespace is different?

Here's mine:

    // Update the download counter (unless it's a thumbnail or resuming an incomplete download).
    if ($file['attachment_type'] != 3 && empty($showThumb) && $range === 0 && empty($context['skip_downloads_increment']))
        $smcFunc['db_query']('', '
            UPDATE {db_prefix}attachments
            SET downloads = downloads + 1
            WHERE id_attach = {int:id_attach}',
            array(
                'id_attach' => $attachId,
            )
        );


Sorry for the late response. SMF was not sending me notices when posts are made to this thread.
If you don't get responses from the author in these forums, please contact the author at the address in the documentation of the MOD. I will attempt to keep abreast of this thread from now on.

There was an error in the upload for Version 4.0.04. it has re-uploaded.

Primary Key field missing in insert call
Problem with ./Sources/ShowAttachments.php

If for some reason there is a blank page on install, there is a backup in the folder BotBanish/Backups/ of the folders Source, Theme and files SSI.php and index.php in a zip file that can restore your forum to pre installation.

If you have any issues with this MOD, contact me and we will get it resolved! We install it on all our sites for 30 days before releasing.

If you are having any issues with this mod let me know and we will get it straightened out for you. You can always visit the BotBanish support board (https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-general-questions-report-bugs-problems-etc/) for more information on this MOD.

Release History (https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-release-history/botbanish-4-x-release-history/)

help my forum kept me redirectly to google yet i have been trying to login to my own forum, anyway to disable it from database"?

i just trying login ur support board it redirect to google. yet i didnt any bad

andsim, what is your IP address and domain? I will check the BotBanish database for it. This sometimes happens with a shared IP address. Another user that shares your IP address could have done something bad and the IP was blocked. On your forum, your IP is automatically placed in your whitelist table and you should have no trouble accessing your own forum. However if your forum checks with BotBanish and your IP is in the BotBanish table it can be blocked. Your domain can be whitelisted also.

BTW: Did you attempt to create an account on our support board? You mentioned you attempted to login. Attempting to login too many times with get you blocked. Also if you just installed BotBanish, there is no indication on the server that your forum contacted BotBanish with the install. We need more information...

i havent attempted only one or twice no more to my own forum, my ip is static i cannot type full but can link my web site address
andsimforum.org
installed botbanish long time ago dont remember when right now i have no access to admin wo redirect to google
can i pm u my ip
i think my ip change when i switch to fiber internet with static ip
when i try ur support forum only attempted once

QuoteDid you attempt to create an account on our support board?

yes try to create then it block me

Aloha andsim,

I pinged your forum and see that your IP address has changed. BotBanish has licensed you with a different IP and your IP has seemed to changed since you first installed BotBanish, so that is possibly one reason that you might get rejected. Check your botbanishclient_ip_dnb table, change the IP to your current IP and save it. Or you can uninstall your 3.6.04 version and install the 4.0.04 version and the IP will automatically be updated in the table and you will have the most current BotBanish version.

Also PM me the IP address that you use to login so that I can check for it in the BotBanish Server.

Also, after adding the IP you will need to close and restart your browser.

If your installation finished with a blank screen, this is most likely because you are running on PHP 8.1.11 and BotBanish was terminated by PHP while showing no error on the display. This error information was saved in the PHP error_log file and BotBanish_Log files. BotBanish is now compatible with PHP 8.1.11  :)

SMF 2.1.2
BotBanish 4.0.05

After installing and visiting any page I keep getting this error:

QuoteError
Type of error
General
Error message
8192: Non-static method Read::LogTopicViews() should not be called statically
File
/home/******/public_html/******/Sources/Subs.php
Line
5822
URL of page causing the error
https://******.com/?action=admin;area=logs;sa=errorlog;desc

Backtrace information
#0: smf_error_handler()
Called from /home/******/public_html/******/Sources/Subs.php on line 5822
#1: call_integration_hook()
Called from /home/******/public_html/******/Sources/Load.php on line 2679
#2: loadTheme()
Called from /home/******/public_html/******/index.php on line 243
#3: smf_main()
Called from /home/******/public_html/******/index.php on line 193

Aloha Shades,

What version of PHP and Apache are you running on?
Can you send a copy of the offending files or a few of the lines around the error. We test on a clean system with only a few MOD's installed, those lines contain nothing much on our system. Possibly we interfered with an installed MOD. Are there any error files such as error_log in the root or SMF folder and in the BotBanish/bot/Client/BotBanish_log folder?

Also the function LogTopicViews() is not a BotBanish or SMF function. BotBanish may be interfering with another MOD.

Subs.php line 5821 - 5823

        $smcFunc['db_free_result']($request);

        if (!empty($current_functions))

Load.php lines 2678 - 2681


    $loaded = false;
    foreach ($settings['template_dirs'] as $template_dir)
    {

index.php line 242 - 243

    if (!empty($topic) && empty($board_info['cur_topic_approved']) && !allowedTo('approve_posts') && ($user_info['id'] != $board_info['cur_topic_starter'] || $user_info['is_guest']))
        fatal_lang_error('not_a_topic', false);


Quote from: Randem on October 10, 2022, 12:16:08 PMAloha Shades,

What version of PHP and Apache are you running on?
Can you send a copy of the offending files or a few of the lines around the error. We test on a clean system with only a few MOD's installed, those lines contain nothing much on our system. Possibly we interfered with an installed MOD. Are there any error files such as error_log in the root or SMF folder and in the BotBanish/bot/Client/BotBanish_log folder?

Also the function LogTopicViews() is not a BotBanish or SMF function. BotBanish may be interfering with another MOD.

Subs.php line 5821 - 5823

Oops sorry I already uninstalled it but if I reinstall it and get the error again I'll post back!

Thanks,
Shades 8)

BotBanish v4.0.05 is PHP 8.1.x and SMF 2.1.2 ready

Will this mod work on Nginx server?

BotBanish is designed for use on PHP, mySQL & Apache ONLY. It has not been tested on Nginx.

BotBanish will not work on NGINX yet, due to BotBanish's use of the .htaccess file which NGINX will not allow. We are working on this and will keep updated.

Tested BotBanish on NGINX with proxy caching and it will work as designed. Have not tested on stand-alone NGINX that does not allow .htaccess access as of yes. Will need to change BotBanish's .htaccess processing for this to work.

Trying to test this on

• SMF 2.1.3
• Apache/2.4.56 (Debian)
• PHP 7.4

the generated .htaccess results in a broken site and this error in the apache error log:

/home/www/mysites/.htaccess: Invalid command 's.org/', perhaps misspelled or defined by a module not included in the server configuration, referer: https://mysites.domain.org/index.php?action=admin;area=packages;sa=install2;package=BotBanish_Client_SMF_v4.0.07.zip;pid=0
Unfortunately without reporting the line number.

The following apache mods are enabled:

access_compat.load  authz_core.load  cgid.load     filter.load   mpm_prefork.conf  proxy.conf       setenvif.conf       status.load
alias.conf          authz_host.load  deflate.conf  headers.load  mpm_prefork.load  proxy_http.load  setenvif.load
alias.load          authz_user.load  deflate.load  jk.conf       negotiation.conf  proxy.load       socache_shmcb.load
auth_basic.load     autoindex.conf   dir.conf      jk.load       negotiation.load  reqtimeout.conf  ssl.conf
authn_core.load     autoindex.load   dir.load      mime.conf     php7.4.conf       reqtimeout.load  ssl.load
authn_file.load     cgid.conf        env.load      mime.load     php7.4.load       rewrite.load     status.conf
I'll attach the generated .htaccess (with the actual domain name anonymized)

Hi arminus, I Will need to see the .htaccess file to see what is broken. The issue could be anything from invalid format to a depreciated call. Send me the .htaccess file so that I can take a look. BotBanish definitely does not have any commands like s.org

Um, he literally attached it to his post?

Thanks, I did not get that in the email that SMF sent...

This is where your issue is
s.org/ [L,R=301]
RewriteRule ^yabb/(.*)$ https:///www.roberge.de/$1 [R=301]

BotBanish did not place this into the .htaccess file. All the information BotBanish places into your .htaccess file is between code verification points like

# * * * * * BotBanish BOT Start (REWRITECOND) * * * * *
# * * * * * BotBanish BOT End (REWRITECOND) * * * * *

# ***** BotBanish RULES Start *****
# ***** BotBanish RULES End *****

# ***** BotBanish CODE Start *****
# ***** BotBanish CODE End *****

Anything outside of those code marks were place there by some other method. Also you have Apache 2.2 code in the file that should be changed to the 2.4 version. Not an issue yet but one day in the future. BotBanish will use the 2.4 version of the commands unless of course your on 2.2.

# DO NOT REMOVE OR CHANGE!!!
# Everything between the BotBanish Start and End markers will be removed when the BotBanish is uninstalled

BotBanish makes a backup of the .htaccess file before any changes are made. Check your root folder for the backup files. The files have a numeric value appended to the name. Perhaps you can post that file and I can take a look.

You are right and I could have spotted this - however, this is IMHO caused by a "bad patch" of the .htaccess file by the BotBanish installer. See the attached diff, left is original, right is after the installation. I blurred out parts of the URLs, they are of course valid URLs.

The original sequence looks like this:

#RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Slurp
#RewriteRule ^ https://www.domain.de/ [L,R=301]
RewriteRule ^yabb/(.*)$ https:///www.domain.de/$1 [R=301]

This is what threw me off, the site, even if copied to a test server worked fine before having installed BotBanish. But since that line was commented out in the original anyway, and I didn't add it myself and don't know why it is there in the first place, I'm fine.

Great! If you would, I would like a copy of your .htaccess file before installation to test with. It makes no sense on how that line got split up (never seen that before). I want to see if the format of the file has something to do with it or if I can reproduce the effect. Also those lines do not has s.org in them, curious...

Here you go. I kind of inherited maintenance for that site, so I can't really tell you what the intent of these lines was originally.

Thanks, I will let you know what I find and make any corrections if I do find something strange...

Thanks for the quick responses!

There a couple of more issues I noticed:

• Timezone seems to be hardcoded to Honolulu (or -12h from my time zone)
• (related to that?): Switching the language to German, I get PHP errors in showanalytics

Undefined index: Time in ..../BotBanish/bot/Analytics/BotBanishAnalytics.php on line 583
Undefined index: Days in ..../BotBanish/bot/Analytics/BotBanishAnalytics.php on line 588


• Adding an IP and a name to the blacklist, the name is not saved (i.e. doesn't appear in the table of blacklisted IPs)

Also, a more general question: This mod heavily modifies SMF code - what happens if I upgrade SMF to > 2.1.3 down the road?

I will take a look at this. I fixed the error with the .htaccess file (Thanks for sharing). It was a problem with comments. I will check on the errors you posted and let you know when BotBanish 4.0.08 will be release with the fixes. I just added an IP to the blacklist and it does appear in the BotBanish list not in an SMF table. Are you looking in an SMF table? The timezone should be the same as SMF, I will double check this.

We will be releasing BotBanish 4.1.00 soon which will be for SMF 2.1.3, so that will not be an issue. You would just uninstall BotBanish 4.0.07 without deleting the data tables then install BotBanish 4.1.00 on SMF 2.1.3 and you will be fine.

Attached are updated language files that you can replace the ones you have. We have implemented a better system in updating our language files. Sometimes some things would get left out in the manual conversion. The conversions are now mostly automatic now to keep the language files up to date.

BotBanish language files are in the SMF folder Themes/default/languages/BotBanish

The timezone is static but can be changed in the database table botbanishclient_settings via the name column with the value of BOTBANISH_TIMEZONE. This is an over-site and will allow timezone change in the next version. We allow it to be changed on the website install but forgot on the SMF version.

Quote from: Randem on April 24, 2023, 11:25:34 PMI just added an IP to the blacklist and it does appear in the BotBanish list not in an SMF table. Are you looking in an SMF table? The timezone should be the same as SMF, I will double check this.

What I meant was that I set a name for the IP address (in order to understand later why it was added), but the name does not appear in the table as produced by action=botbanish;area=viewblacklistips

Quote from: Randem on April 24, 2023, 11:25:34 PMWe will be releasing BotBanish 4.1.00 soon which will be for SMF 2.1.3, so that will not be an issue. You would just uninstall BotBanish 4.0.07 without deleting the data tables then install BotBanish 4.1.00 on SMF 2.1.3 and you will be fine.

Understood, but my question was on what will happen if I have BotBanish installed and there is a new SMF version (or a mod which also patches an SMF file which was patched by BotBabnish). What is the recommended procedure then?

Quote from: Randem on April 25, 2023, 12:52:55 AMThe timezone is static but can be changed in the database table botbanishclient_settings via the name column with the value of BOTBANISH_TIMEZONE. This is an over-site and will allow timezone change in the next version. We allow it to be changed on the website install but forgot on the SMF version.

That does not seem to have any effect. I tried setting it to Europe/Berlin, no change, then saw that there is a list of timezone definitions (?) in BOTBANISH_TIMEZONES and set BOTBANISH_TIMEZONE to Europe/Sarajevo which is in that list, again no change. Time in action=botbanish;area=showanalytics shows as -12h relative to mine.

All minor issues...

QuoteUnderstood, but my question was on what will happen if I have BotBanish installed and there is a new SMF version (or a mod which also patches an SMF file which was patched by BotBabnish). What is the recommended procedure then?

Upgrading to SMF 2.1.3 will have no effect on the BotBanish installation as I remember. If there was an issue like the files that were modified were replaced all that would be needed is to uninstall BotBanish and Re-install it. I would recommend that you uninstall BotBanish first then do the upgrade then re-install BotBanish.

QuoteWhat I meant was that I set a name for the IP address (in order to understand later why it was added), but the name does not appear in the table as produced by action=botbanish;area=viewblacklistips

Not understanding. In the image that I posted it shows that the list took the name that I gave it. Could you show an image of what happens when you do it. Also can you give me the information you are using so that I can test this on my end.

QuoteThat does not seem to have any effect. I tried setting it to Europe/Berlin, no change, then saw that there is a list of timezone definitions (?) in BOTBANISH_TIMEZONES and set BOTBANISH_TIMEZONE to Europe/Sarajevo which is in that list, again no change. Time in action=botbanish;area=showanalytics shows as -12h relative to mine.

Looking into the timezone issue... Working on changing the way it operates to make it simplier.

Also where you want to change the timezone, look in the Settings_Client.php file. That is where the timezone originally is set. You can find this file in the BotBanish/bot folder.

QuoteWhat I meant was that I set a name for the IP address (in order to understand later why it was added), but the name does not appear in the table as produced by action=botbanish;area=viewblacklistips

I figured out what you meant. The blacklist is not supposed to have a name but the whilelist is. This will be taken care of in the next release. Thanks  :)

Quote from: Randem on April 26, 2023, 02:48:51 AMI figured out what you meant. The blacklist is not supposed to have a name but the whilelist is. This will be taken care of in the next release. Thanks

thanks

Regarding the timezone issue: Originally you had said that this is set in the DB but that apparently has no effect. Changing it in Settings_Client.php works. But I understand you're going to fix that in the next release, too. So we'll wait for that for the operational install anyway.

Yes, these issues have already been taken care of in the next release. The timezone will default to the same timezone as the SMF installation and can be changed in the BotBanish Settings area (for BotBanish only). Thanks for your feedback.

Aloha, We have release BotBanish 4.1.00 for SMF today and it is available on SMF and at https://botbanish.com. Check our support forum for detailed information.

I'm afraid this doesn't install:

[Sun May 14 09:16:25.107055 2023] [php:error] [pid 2048158] [client x.x.x.x:55789] PHP Parse error:  syntax error, unexpected string content "", expecting "-" or identifier or variable or number in /home/www/roberge/BotBanish/bot/Subs/BotBanish_Subs_SMF.php on line 333, referer: https://abx.xyz/index.php?action=admin;area=packages;sa=install;package=BotBanish_Client_SMF_v4.1.00.zip
After that, the site is broken, i.e. just says "BotBanish_Subs Hacking attempt..."

PHP 8.2 with SMF 2.1.3

Hi, I found the error. it was a $ inside a quote. I will fix this an produce a new upload.
There is a backup of files changed in BotBanish/bot/Backups Just unzip the files back to the original location. If the SMF Settings table needs to be modified, use phpMyAdmin to search for botbanish in the value field and remove the entries. I will also check the install on PHP 8.2

Just installed it. let me know if you have any trouble with restoring the backup. There is also a backup of the database in the Botanish/bot/Backups folder

Just tested on PHP 8.2 and not ready for 8.2 yet. Some slight changes need to be made to be compatible. Will work on those. BTW, there is at least one function that is not compatible on PHP 8.2 with the SMF Forum software.

Quote from: Randem on May 14, 2023, 04:41:30 AMJust installed it. let me know if you have any trouble with restoring the backup. There is also a backup of the database in the Botanish/bot/Backups folder

Thanks, since I got burned last time, I test this on a server where I just backup everything before doing anything. Will switch to 8.1 there, is the patch already in https://custom.simplemachines.org/index.php?mod=4158 ?

Yes, the patch has been uploaded.

Next problem (I did switch the server to php8.1)

[Sun May 14 11:59:26.073664 2023] [php:error] [pid 2133796] [client x.x.x.x:64297] PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught mysqli_sql_exception: Field 'stack_trace' doesn't have a default value in /home/www/test/Sources/Subs-Db-mysql.php:1028\nStack trace:\n#0 /home/www/test/Sources/Subs-Db-mysql.php(1028): mysqli_stmt_execute()\n#1 /home/www/test/Sources/Errors.php(129): smf_db_error_insert()\n#2 /home/www/test/Sources/Errors.php(301): log_error()\n#3 [internal function]: smf_error_handler()\n#4 /home/www/test/BotBanish/bot/Subs/BotBanishCopyFile.php(38): ftp_get()\n#5 /home/www/test/BotBanish/bot/Subs/BotBanishCopyFile.php(16): BotBanishTransferFile()\n#6 /home/www/test/BotBanish/bot/Subs/BotBanishInstall.php(48): include('...')\n#7 /home/www/test/BotBanish/bot/Subs/BotBanishInstall.php(15): BotBanishInstallStart()\n#8 /home/www/test/Packages/temp/DatabaseIntegrate.php(86): require_once('...')\n#9 /home/www/test/Sources/Packages.php(1028): require('...')\n#10 /home/www/test/Sources/Subs.php(6029): PackageInstall()\n#11 /home/www/test/Sources/Packages.php(91): call_helper()\n#12 /home/www/test/Sources/Admin.php(499): Packages()\n#13 /home/www/test/index.php(191): AdminMain()\n#14 {main}\n  thrown in /home/www/test/Sources/Subs-Db-mysql.php on line 1028, referer: https://test.xyz/index.php?action=admin;area=packages;sa=install;package=BotBanish_Client_SMF_v4.1.00.zip

Looking at the data it seems that ftp has failed on the install but ftp_connect was loaded. I will check these function

Changed upload. Replaced FTP with CURL. FTP might not always be loaded or completely function on some systems. Are you running on Apache 2.4? Also is your mySQL Mode set to STRICT?

Installation works now - after having installed php8.1-curl.

IMHO it would be prudent to check if all required PHP extensions are available in the installer before actually running it (and stop if those preconditions aren't met). And/or at least list the required extensions in the docs.

Great! PHP 8.1 is listed in the docs Runs on PHP 8.1.x, Apache 2.4.x, MySQL 5.7.x, but it may be prudent to check for some things when possible for some host may not automatically load the same default modules as out hosting does. Thanks for reporting these issues so that we could get them worked out. It helps tremendously. We took care of the obvious issues with PHP 8.2 but haven't fully tested on it yet.

Interested in seeing if your system is ready for BotBanish? Run the BotBanish Pre-Install checker to see if you have all that is needed to run BotBanish. Download it here - BotBanish Pre-Install Checker (https://botbanish.com/BotBanish/bot/Analytics/BotBanishDownload.php?filename=BotBanish_PreInstall.zip)

Quote from: Randem on May 14, 2023, 02:11:53 PMPHP 8.1 is listed in the docs Runs on PHP 8.1.x, Apache 2.4.x, MySQL 5.7.x,

I was aware of that but not of the other required extensions, so that checker certainly helps.

QA hat on:

Also, it says that PHP 7.4.33 (which is what we have on the production server) is ok - "Runs on PHP 8.1.x, ..." kind of implied to me that 8.1 is required, but apparently not. That's fine but could maybe also be stated explicitly in the docs (i.e. what's the minimum PHP version required)

QA hat off ;-)

But I have one more problem: Switching to German language messes up special characters (aka German Umlaute), didn't see this in previous versions. Some encoding problem on your files I guess...

2023-05-15_151636.png

Same for French:

2023-05-15_151615.png

And one more question: What's the difference between the free and the pro version? Didn't find anything on that on https://botbanish.com ...

Thanks for your QA feedback  :)

The difference from paid vs free is the free version will run for 90 days then revert to client side only protection. The paid version allows usage of our servers to detect, deflect and stop intrusions. The server side uses multiple clients to product the blacklists, which will aid in stopping attacks before they happen to you. If the attack happened to other in the system this information will automatically be available to the paid version to stop an attach before it begins. The free version will have to figure out each attack as it happens.

Basically the paid version is a hive mind while the free version is a single mind. The hive mind protects everyone while the single mind only protects itself. Other features such as country locators and blocking are in the paid version.

I will take a look at the language files. They are now automated and may require a different format to preserve special characters.

I changed the information about the PHP version etc... I see your point on the confusion. We will attempt to add the checker into the install package and see if that will work.

I have attached new language files for you to place into the language folder. There was an encoding issue in the files. Package has been updated.

Thanks, that works now, too. But you didn't replace the files in the full package yet... (replaced them there manually)

Online package now updated.

Nope, the patched language files are not part of https://custom.simplemachines.org/index.php?action=download;mod=4158;attach=287001 which I just found out after having installed this on the live server :-/

Also: Patching the .htaccess file still doesn't work reliably, I don't quite understand why I didn't see this on the test server but on the production server for the first install, it was again messed up like so:

From originally:

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.domain.de/$1 [R=301,L]

#RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Slurp
#RewriteRule ^ https://www.domain.de/ [L,R=301]
RewriteRule ^yabb/(.*)$ https:///www.domain.de/$1 [R=301]
to

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.domain.de/$1 [R=301,L]

#

# * * * * * BotBanish BOT Start (REWRITECOND) * * * * *
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "$print" [OR,NC]

...... many lines skipped ......

# * * * * * BotBanish BOT End (REWRITECOND) * * * * *
[L,R=301]
RewriteRule ^yabb/(.*)$ https:///www.domain.de/$1 [R=301]

Now I knew what to look for, so I was able to fix the 500 quickly, but all these tests and issues are getting a bit tiresome...

Curiously enough, the 2nd install (after having manually patched the package with the language files again) did not mess up .htaccess but put the Botbanish lines in some other location in the .htaccess file ?!

One more observation - this appears quite often in the server error log now:

2023-05-17T19:54:56.706000 [error] [pid 12942] mod_proxy_fcgi.c(888): [Worker 192.168.42.104:443] AH01071: Got error 'PHP message: PHP Warning:  session_start(): Unable to clear session lock record in /var/www/domain/html/BotBanish/bot/Settings_Client.php on line 26PHP message: PHP Warning:  session_start(): Failed to read session data: memcached (path: proxy:11211) in /var/www/domain/html/BotBanish/bot/Settings_Client.php on line 26'

In regards to the .htaccess file. I had to remove the efforts to convert the old BotBanish .htaccess files (Apache 2.2) to the new format (Apache 2.4). This is why the errors were so random in nature, after fixing the comments, this showed up. As far as the language file, what is the date/time on the ones that you have in your zip file. They should be from 5/16/2023 7:33 AM, which were the updated files. I have attached a link to a version for you to look at if you would. Version 4.1.01 (https://randemsystems.com/data/randemsystems.com/BotBanish_Client_SMF_v4.1.01.zip)

Quote from: Randem on May 17, 2023, 10:15:39 PMIn regards to the .htaccess file.

I'll clean out the commented out stuff from our .htaccess file, maybe that will help next time.

Quote from: Randem on May 17, 2023, 10:15:39 PMAs far as the language file

As I had said, I downloaded it from https://custom.simplemachines.org/index.php?action=download;mod=4158;attach=287001 - this is still the unpatched file:

2023-05-18_080049.png
2023-05-18_080115.png

Are there any other changes (apart form the Language patch) in https://randemsystems.com/data/randemsystems.com/BotBanish_Client_SMF_v4.1.01.zip at this point?

Lately, we observe that "something" kind of automatically changes out site's favicon to the botbanish icon, how can we prevent that? (we're on 4.1.00)

Any updates that we have are listed here https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-release-history/botbanish-4-x-release-history/

If the changes are small impact ones we do not list them individually.

As far as the favicon.ico file, it should only be installed if there is not one already present. Otherwise other errors happen in the Apache log file behind the scenes that we want to avoid.

Also there is no need to clear out the commented out lines, it has been taken care of in 4.1.00

Quote from: Randem on June 09, 2023, 11:43:57 PMAs far as the favicon.ico file, it should only be installed if there is not one already present.

To clarify this: There is a custom favicon.ico file already present in the server's root dir. At some (arbitrary?) point in time, it gets replaced with Botbanish's favicon. We copy it back, some time later, it's replaced again - without us "doing anything" (i.e. reinstall or reconfigure Botbanish), so I suspect this is some kind of Botbanish cron job which replaces favicon.ico ?!

Sorry, we are not getting the notifications from SMF when you post. The process of replacing the favicon.ico never happens on our sites or other client sites. BotBanish does not use cron jobs. The only time that BotBanish puts a favicon.ico file there is if one does not already exists. I would look for something deleting the favicon.ico file, in that case BotBanish would place a new one there.

When an error happens due to a missing favicon.ico file, this will trigger BotBanish to place a favicon.ico file there to prevent future errors. BotBanish will not remove a favicon.ico file.

I do see where it might be possible ONLY under a 404 Document Error. If the system reporting is incorrect then we will replace the favicon.ico file. I put a check in there in case the system reporting is actually in error. Replace the attached file in your root folder. It will check that the error is actually real stating that there is no favicon.ico file there before BLINDLY placing a new one in the root.

Needed to make more changes to the file for tracking of the issue your reported. Use this file instead and allow me to see the AccessError log after it has been running a while to see exactly what your system is reporting to allow BotBanish to make this issue happen.

Quote from: Randem on June 12, 2023, 03:55:09 PMI do see where it might be possible ONLY under a 404 Document Error. If the system reporting is incorrect then we will replace the favicon.ico file.

Hmmm. I was trying to manually trigger that condition by loading a couple of bad URLs, but the replace did not happen, here's an example log excerpt (unmodified 4.1.00 BotBanish_AccessError.php):

REDIRECT_STATUS = 404
REDIRECT_REQUEST_METHOD = GET
REDIRECT_HTTPS = on
REDIRECT_BOTBANISH_SYSTEM = SMF
REDIRECT_BOTBANISH_TYPE = 2.4.00
REDIRECT_VHOST = 4ebd341694a3d0fab476dd41c5a4c464
REDIRECT_FTPUSER = xxx.de2
REDIRECT_WNAME = $HOSTNAME
FCGI_ROLE = RESPONDER
PHP_SELF = /BotBanish/bot/Subs/BotBanish_AccessError.php
REQUEST_TIME_FLOAT = 1686639007.9355
REQUEST_TIME = 1686639007
BAN_CHECK_IP = x.x.x.x
REQUEST_URL = https://www.xxx.de/index.php1

=====================================================================

Angerufen von
    File: /var/www/xxx.de2/html/BotBanish/bot/Subs/BotBanish_AccessError.php
    Function: BotBanishLogError
    Line: 206

Angerufen von
    File: /var/www/xxx.de2/html/BotBanish/bot/Subs/BotBanish_Subs.php
    Function: BotBanishDebugBackTrace
    Line: 804


Quote from: Randem on June 13, 2023, 12:03:29 AMUse this file instead and allow me to see the AccessError log after it has been running a while to see exactly what your system is reporting to allow BotBanish to make this issue happen.

Does this file work with 4.1.00 or do I need to upgrade to that latest BotBanish first?

The only URL that would trigger the issue would need to involve favicon.ico in the URL that cannot be found. This is the only way that a 404 would be triggered for a favicon.ico file.

I can't tell from the excerpt information that you provided. It is missing much information needed to determine a finding. The redirect information as to what URL caused the redirect is missing (REDIRECT_URL) as well as other pertinent information.

Yes the file will work with version 4.1.00. I made another change in the file to help hopefully. It is attached.

Still not getting notifications from SMF on posts...  :-\

Here is another modification of the file that is responsible for the replacing of the favicon.ico file. It would seem that the system may report a favicon.ico file missing from elsewhere and we are replacing the one in the root which is the one we expect to be missing and causing the error. This file handles the issue in case the error is reporting that the favicon.ico file elsewhere is missing.

Thanks, I just replaced BotBanish_AccessError.php, will keep you posted.

Hi, I got a notification this time  :)

In the .htaccess file the ErrorDocument statements will show you where the file is expected to be.
Check the error log to see if the condition is logged. Even if the file is not replaced, it will be logged that the condition existed and where the file (favicon.ico) was stated to be.

Had to remove some troubling code that used SSI.php and caused issues. Really should not have been there in the first place.

BotBanish v4.1.02 has been released - Update History (https://randemsystems.com/support/botbanish-release-history/botbanish-4-x-release-history/).

while trying to view botbanish analytics or logs as admin, i get 403 error !!

It says
'The image "https://url.../BotBanish/bot/Analytics/BotBanishAnalytics.php" cannot be displayed because it contain errors.

how is .php file an image ?

while trying to view logs

Quote403 - Permission Denied

    You do not have permission to retrieve the URL or link you requested,

Hi Dblog,

I will need some details in order to help.

What version of BotBanish are you using?
Did you attempt to paste the erred url into a browser?
What is the complete url in question?

(https://randemsystems.com/images/BotBanish_Logs.png)

I tried all available options i could
.... /BotBanish/bot/Subs/BotBanish_RegisterAccount.php this file causes 403
In settings,
BotBanish APIKEY - Free
where should i register account if it is free

sent you more details in DM

I replied in PM. I will need more information. I could not access your forum site so it seems there is a permissions issue. Check you folder access permissions and .htaccess that may be denying access. I just get a blank page , which usually means something has failed.